Picture by Peter Rand
A Little Bit About Me
I have been very lucky to have been employed doing photography for most of my working life. My Dad loved photography and had a good eye. Often on holiday in Scotland or at home in Norfolk I would pinch his camera and take family pictures, views or whatever took my fancy. The next, great fun bit, for me was doing my own developing, hours spent in the darkroom, the red light on, fiddling with the enlarger or leaning over a tray watching the picture slowly appearing through the liquid… just magic.
As time went on I knew it was what I wanted to do, I loved doing black and white pictures, they were, simple and uncluttered by the distraction of colour, making them often so striking. It was my love of black and white photography that led me into the world of photo-journalism.
I wasn’t an academic pupil at school. I didn’t really care about the make up of the darkroom chemicals or the physics of the camera. I just knew what it did and when I made it do it well it made me feel good. In the early days I was guided by some good teachers and influencers. It wasn’t until I was accepted on the National Council for training of Journalists photographic course did the real training begin!! After the full time course came to an end I joined the Burnley Express as a junior or what was affectionately called a “Cub” photographer. What a great training for a photographer that paper was, I often worked Thursday, Friday and Saturday, day and night. I must try to keep this short so I will only say that from there I managed to get into London and was on Fleet Street before the great change and it all moved on. As a freelance I worked on the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail and The London Evening Standard covering hard news but slowly evolving into feature work which was more suitable for me. During my time I had many front pages with both the paper and the magazine, later specialising in the growing London restaurant scene.
Brief as this is but with the photos in my various portfolios you can ,hopefully, get some idea about me and my photography. If you have an idea of something you would like to do then we can work together to make it into a photo or series of photos.
For more information about me and my career please have a read of my "Scrapbook Blog and follow me on Instagram.