Who I Am, Where I'm From, Where I'm Going, What I'm Doing

Born in Norfolk, UK – Living in NJ, USA – Made in the British Army

My interest in photography first started when I was a young lad, and a family friend taught me how to use an old Zenith 35mm.

He also had a full dark room set up, and the excitement of watching the images develop like magic was mesmerizing.

I left home at 17, and started to work for a high street shop - My interests drifted away from my camera, and onto more teenage pursuits like sport and socializing...

I joined the Army in 1989 as a slightly rebellious but bored 20 yr old and spent the next 10 years serving in various countries - Again my camera was nowhere to be seen, and I often think of the missed opportunities to record the events that I was a part of.

I left the military in May 2000 and, after a year working in and around London, moved to the USA in November 2001-Again, camera-less.

19 years later, the world changed and I, like many others, started to reassess whether what I was doing was really fulfilling - The resounding realization was that it wasn't. My job was more stressful than ever, the hours were now longer than ever and the need for a change was obvious.

It was not the climate to just up and quit a job that was paying me very well, so I started looking into what I could pick up as a side gig, with a view to a career change - Out of the blue I received a spam email with an invite to a webinar on Real Estate Photography.

It was so different to what I currently do, and the presenter was so engaging that I was sucked in immediately. I purchased the course that he was selling and got going straight away with aspirations of building my multi-million dollar company.

Unfortunately, the strength of the real estate market meant that, for my area at least, agents were not interested in taking on a newbie in the photo game so my dreams and plans of being able to quit my job and earn a living that way were quickly squashed…..

BUT….. As I taught myself the nuances of how real estate agents want their properties to be presented, I very quickly rediscovered how much I enjoy using a camera.

I am now trying all kinds of shots – From Macro to Astrophotography – So I thought that I would start to document what I am doing. Some will work out well, some will fail miserably but every one of them will be enjoyable for me.

Feel free to comment, critique, copy, or just look at what I come up with – I’m sure there are a lot of things that I’ll be doing wrong, so any comments will only help me improve.

Let’s see what happens…..