biography

I am a computer programmer and IT consultant and have been living in London UK and doing technical work for almost 30 years. However I am the son of two artists (painters) and as a result have an artistic gremlin, always trying to fight its way out. I can not draw or paint, so photography has been my visual art tool and downtime pastime. I have pursued that as a hobbyist (although with a few photographic paid jobs) for more than 20 years. My photography work tends toward difficult subjects to photograph. These have included astrophotography (nebulae, planets, moon, etc.) using my telescope, macro photographs of nature in the field, ultra wide photography from unexpected perspectives, and experiments with ferrofluid, injected paints, inks in water, glass photography etc. I tend to make contraptions to contain my subjects, or I find, buy or make the esoteric camera equipment and lenses that might help me to achieve the goal of taking difficult photographs. My current project and body of work is the result of buying some very old (50+ year old) research microscopes, fashioning adapters for my camera, and viewing - as well as pointing the camera down the microscopes to capture the wonder of microscopic crystals in polarised light. This has seen me achieve a successful exhibition at Alveston Fine Art in Notting Hill, London in March 2023, as well as winning non professional Fine Art Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards 2023.