My interest in photography started back in the 1970s as a young boy. Dad worked as a compositor (typesetter) at the Daily Mirror/Sunday Mirror/Sunday People newspapers and later the Sporting Life. On a Saturday night he would come home after his shift and give me some of the black and white prints that were used for the sports pages of the Sunday papers, which I still have today (see below: George Best playing for Derby County against Bristol Rovers image from 1976, also the paper clipping from the Sunday People).
I followed my dad’s footsteps as an apprentice compositor at the London College of Print, studying fonts. Earning an apprenticeship wage managed to save up for my first camera which was an entry level Fujica STX-1 (manual SLR) and that’s how it all started.
I moved up to Yorkshire in 1986, coached and played rugby at grassroots level, started photographing my son and his teammates playing rugby. Retired from playing at the age of 50 (due to an injury and the shirts started getting tighter) but continued to photograph the minis, juniors and senior rugby (men and women) at Baildon Rugby Club. Recently started photographing a local mixed ability rugby team, named the Bumblebees, which is so enjoyable and gives me so much pleasure, especially when editing the images where you can see the smiles on the player’s faces when playing which you do not see when you are photographing them.
During this time also enrolled at the Shipley College in 2010 and undertook the NCFE Level 1 in Photography and a Level 2 in Digital Photography which gave me a better understanding of camera controls, also a basic understanding of digital photography and Photoshop.
You’ve probably guessed, I class myself an amateur sports photographer (mainly rugby), I have tried other sports, but due to commitments to rugby at the weekends, I don’t seem to have time to do other types of photography (people in management would probably say it’s all down to time management).
I joined Shipley Camera Club to meet like-minded people and force myself to come out of my comfort zone and pick up skills from other club members to be able to confidently photograph portraits (currently rugby players), landscapes (currently rugby club pitches and surrounding scenery), wildlife (currently various species birds on the rugby pitch or molehills) as there are so many accomplished photographers at the club of all abilities. I find it refreshing members are willing to give up their time to share their knowledge onto others.
Finally, I shoot with various Canon bases and Canon/Sigma lenses.
I followed my dad’s footsteps as an apprentice compositor at the London College of Print, studying fonts. Earning an apprenticeship wage managed to save up for my first camera which was an entry level Fujica STX-1 (manual SLR) and that’s how it all started.
I moved up to Yorkshire in 1986, coached and played rugby at grassroots level, started photographing my son and his teammates playing rugby. Retired from playing at the age of 50 (due to an injury and the shirts started getting tighter) but continued to photograph the minis, juniors and senior rugby (men and women) at Baildon Rugby Club. Recently started photographing a local mixed ability rugby team, named the Bumblebees, which is so enjoyable and gives me so much pleasure, especially when editing the images where you can see the smiles on the player’s faces when playing which you do not see when you are photographing them.
During this time also enrolled at the Shipley College in 2010 and undertook the NCFE Level 1 in Photography and a Level 2 in Digital Photography which gave me a better understanding of camera controls, also a basic understanding of digital photography and Photoshop.
You’ve probably guessed, I class myself an amateur sports photographer (mainly rugby), I have tried other sports, but due to commitments to rugby at the weekends, I don’t seem to have time to do other types of photography (people in management would probably say it’s all down to time management).
I joined Shipley Camera Club to meet like-minded people and force myself to come out of my comfort zone and pick up skills from other club members to be able to confidently photograph portraits (currently rugby players), landscapes (currently rugby club pitches and surrounding scenery), wildlife (currently various species birds on the rugby pitch or molehills) as there are so many accomplished photographers at the club of all abilities. I find it refreshing members are willing to give up their time to share their knowledge onto others.
Finally, I shoot with various Canon bases and Canon/Sigma lenses.
