About

ABOUT ME

I always find writing an about me section a little awkward, I want to tell people what I do, but in a way that doesn't sound like I'm full of myself if you know what I mean.

So with this in mind, I will tell you a little about myself without going overboard, you can always watch my youtube channel if you wish to know more.

So after working as a joiner for most of my early working life, my girlfriend and I, decided we wanted more from life. So just like that we decided to sell our home, bin off our jobs and travel the world. We had reached a point in our lives where we needed something more than what the 9 to 5 could give us. So in 2001 we packed our small rucksacks and headed off for new adventures. Our first stop was Australia where we ended up staying for just over a year, followed by a month in New Zealand, a few weeks in Polynesia and a month in California. Selling everything and living from a backpack was a real eye-opener and a truly liberating experience, an experience I would definitely recommend to everyone. We returned back to the UK and quickly settled back into our jobs, both back to the companies we had previously worked at. But after a month or two, we quickly realised we were not finished with our travels, so we worked really hard for 18 months and packed our bags once more. This time heading for south-east Asia. We spent a year in Thailand island hopping and a couple of months in Malaysia, followed by 4 months in California. During this time of travelling, the seeds were planted for the start of my photography career.

It didn't start well though, in Malaysia I purchased my very first decent camera, which was an Olympus, I forget the model. Fast forward 2 weeks from purchasing it and it was snatched from my wife's shoulder by 2 people on a motorcycle. We were insured, but we didn't get a replacement until we returned home. But during those 2 weeks with the camera, I knew it was something I wanted to pursue as a job and this set the wheels in motion for a journey that took me from a complete novice, to a full-time wedding photographer in the space of just a few years.

After we had got the travelling bug out of our system, we decided to buy an old house, refurbish it and start a family. For me, this was the only thing that could supersede travelling the world. Watching your children grow up is a beautiful thing. My photography business continued to grow which has been fantastic and it really is the only job I have ever truly enjoyed. So having poured everything into family life and my business for 10 years or so I felt like I needed a new challenge, my creative flames had dwindled a little, I needed to create images for myself, experience new places and set myself a personal goal. So after putting it off for a year, I started my youtube channel which would be based around landscape photography. A genre of photography that I had dabbled in at the start but never really had the time to pursue. Looking back at those first few videos makes me cringe a little, I was so nervous in front of the camera and nearly gave it up after a few goes. I found editing my videos to be a horrible experience. I hated the sound of my voice and couldn't really look at myself. 18 months down the line though, I feel completely different, I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin and this is probably the biggest takeaway from my youtube journey so far.

Landscape photography is now my go-to stress reliever, a place I can go to when I need to relax, a place to recharge. My approach is very much about being outside and enjoying the environment, if a photograph comes along then that's a bonus.

Anyway, that's pretty much my life story :) I hope it came across ok.