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About | ||||||||||
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I was born on the Scottish west coast, and although I have travelled extensively have always returned to the Highlands. I have been involved in professional photography for over thirty years, and continue to learn. I started my working life as a welder in Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow, did a year of it and decided I didn't like it, then completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. I worked in the building trade for several years then decided to go into Social Work, and qualified as a Social Worker. Along the way I have bicycled across the USA, learned (and have taught) stained glass window design and manufacture, trained as a disabled ski instructor and Alpine Ski Leader, been shot at, held captive by a dog's hairdresser (male) in a mobile home in Texas, caught in an erupting volcano and hit by lightning, amongst other things. The worst thing I've experienced was being stuck in a house (in Sweden) for two weeks in appalling weather with only a book of Jeffrey Archer short stories to read - an utterly hellish affair I would not ever care to repeat (Sweden is lovely though!). Through all of this I have carried a camera and used it to record all that I encountered and slowly began the process of becoming a professional photographer. I am self-taught and have learned by trial and error and no small amount of hard work. Blessed with an insatiable curiosity and desire to learn I have pursued various disciplines within the craft of image-making but feel most comfortable working in the outdoors, with people and their natural environment. Committed to teaching the craft of photography, I have a strong belief in the value of this creative activity both as a motivating force and as an educational tool. I have undertaken a variety of community photographic projects, both in the wider community, on behalf of organizations such as SNH and Community Education and also with clients of Social Work Disability Services. I regularly lead tuitional workshops with Wildshots from our base in Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms National Park. I am passionate about the viability of small communities in rural Scotland and I am currently undertaking a documentary project on the inshore fishing industry on the west coast, focusing on people and the issues affecting them and the landscape in which they work. Recent developments such as the proposal of Marine National Parks has focused considerable attention on some of these areas, and I feel it is important that this sustainable, but possibly threatened way of life is recorded. As a west coast native, with grandparents from Mull and Arisaig, and some Spanish blood from the Armada thrown into the mix, I am familiar with the peculiar political situation in the Highlands and Islands, and this informs my work to a considerable degree. Go to Technical information if you want to know what equipment I use. | ||||||
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Working on contract for Diageo in Strathspey in the winter. | ||||||
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