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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 and there I am with all my mates sat right at the front...I digress. 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 and there I am with all my mates sat right at the front...I digress.
By the eighties I was firmly into photography and freelancing. Then, a company called Apple launched a new computer that would turn the print world upside down. I wanted in on it so I began to learn the system. After I did I quickly got into the graphic design side of the business too. This meant that I wasn't just limited to taking photographs I could also work on the design side of the business.
In 1990, I had learned several new skills and started working as an artist for the Messenger Newspaper Group and Warrington Guardian newspaper. I also got to work on the proto-type for the Today Newspaper which at the time was the worlds first totally electronic layout.
Later that same year I got premises and began to set up my own photographic studio. This was something that I had always wanted to do. It took 7 months to convert the building but the hard work and devotion paid off. I had been doing a lot of glamour work an enjoyed it so much that the studio became a glamour studio. I also decided to hire the studio to amateur photographers and camera clubs. I had worked with a lot of the Page 3 girls, that posed in The Sun and Daily Star newspapers. They modelled at the studio at advertised glamour events for amateur photographers.
In June 1994, I left England and went to live in Savannah, GA in the United States. I worked as a graphic artist at the newspaper The Savannah Morning News. Then two years later I moved to Atlanta and became the production manager for a mainstream newspaper.
At this newspaper I met two other artists Denita Bartlett (Graphic Artist) and Clay Henss (Illustrator). We became great friends and we decided to form a design company called Graphic Artists, Inc. After sharing premises with a local printer we realized that a store front was not for us. We figured that the way to go would be to make the company virtual and handle all business online. Today it's hard to imagine not having a website but back then the internet was still in it's infancy by todays standards.
Being virtual meant that we could each work from home. Not only is that cool from our point of view but it translates to the fact that clients would save money because we didn't have to factor the premises cost into our prices. A few years later after Denita sadly passed away I decided to move from Atlanta, to Boca Raton, in South Florida.
For the next six years in Florida, I freelanced as a photographer and graphic artist working from home. I also became involved in the video side of the industry. I was no stranger to movies I used to edit movie film with a splicer back in the day. Being able to do it on computer is so much faster. I also made the decision to become fully digital with cameras and equipment which now gives instant results.
In January 2009, I returned back to England after a fifteen years in the United States. I'm currently freelancing.
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