My childhood memories are of creativity and making things come alive. My brother and I would borrow Dad’s old cine camera and experiement with animation. Plasticine and action men would frequently walk around the table in a stilted but enchanting way and we would make our own jingles on a small tape recorder to accompany our mini movies.

Science Fiction and space were a common place fascination and those early magical feelings stay with me in the work I do today as an adult.

I moved on from animation to Theatre productions, winning The Sarah Griffiths Shield for sustained improvisation and accreditation for set design and contributions to script writing.

My desire was to continue into stage direction and opera production but injury forced me to take on a more conventional career and I forged a successful niche in the world of Law and Finance.

Although times were good and I obtained professional qualifications I yearned for the creative ‘me’.To feed that hunger I continued with my writing and received recognition for short stories, poetry and longer emotive pieces. I was able to convey what I saw in the world around me from the use of my thoughts and words. It was during this period that I picked up the camera again, this time in the form of stills. Suddenly I was able to show as well as describe, it was a defining moment for me.

I moved onto taking portraits and still life and showcasing my writing and pictures under my own website.

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From an early age I would sit and draw for hours. I was brought up on comics (zines) hence the look of the website. I entered many art competitions and actually won a few. When I left school back in the seventies, I wanted to go to college for fashion and design. But all that changed when I got interested in photography.

I guess you could say I got the bug when I was 16, Radio Manchester held a photography competition where you had to send in a photograph of a pretty girl. I thought I would chance my arm and persuaded my sister to model for me. I had never used a camera before but thought it was something that I could do. I borrowed the camera from my sisters boyfriend.

Despite the fact that I had no clue what I was doing I really enjoyed it an the results were pretty good. The shot I sent in actually won.

A few months later, when I was 17. I saw a position advertised for a trainee photography at Chris Grayson Photography, in Manchester. Chris was a fashion photographer and the minute I entered the studio I felt right at home. I showed Chris the photographs I had taken of my sister and he gave me a chance. I owe him a lot.

The hit band 10CC, would often come to the studio. He shot them in concert and did their album cover. For me I was in heaven, I'm 17, and meeting 10CC. I'd just seen them on Top of the Pops a few nights earlier. I remember Eric Stewart from the band giving me 10 tickets for one of their concerts in Manchester. So, there I am with all my mates sat right at the front...I digress. Did I mention the pretty models that we worked with. Yeah I was hooked.

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