[monkeyfinger]

Great question.

I can't remember a time when I didn't have a camera. Even as a tiny lad, I had a 110 camera that was shaped like (I think) a panda, and I've loved it ever since.

I got really into drawing as a young teenager, and spent more time with a pencil than a camera, but somewhere along the line my skill at drawing just faded. Then I got really into making films, and would take the opportunity to have a go on any camcorder that I saw, and so I decided to study Media at college. Once again I got quickly bored, and so enrolled on an evening class in Photography, just for something to do that I knew I liked. In the end I spent more time on an evening course than I did on a full time Media course, and I realised that photography was the best.

Then time came to apply for university, and a photography course was the only option for me. I was lucky enough to get in to a fairly prestigious course, and I just went crazy. Being exposed to all of these great photographers, in books and in person, just meant I could devote all of my time to it. I spent 14 hours a day either shooting or in a darkroom, and loved it. But by the end of the course I was a bit burnt out, so I got a regular office job, and just kept the photos for me. The kind of photography I like is not very commercial, so I just have to keep running my portfolio all over the place trying to get exhibitions, and publishing books through Blurb.