From a very early one of my main interests in life has been photography. I was given my first camera on my eighth birthday, a 126mm compact I seem to recall, and over the next few years progressed to a Zenith 12XP – my first serious SLR. From there I rapidly changed systems to a Praktica BMS, Minolta Dynax and finally ended up with a Canon EOS 600. Finally, I had found a system which just felt right. Fifteen years on and I have been using my fifth EOS series body, a 5D, for almost a year and a half: the first three being film with the current and previous being digital.

Over the past several years I have been experimenting more with medium format systems, particularly those by Mamiya, and large format. Each format has their own place in my life and is used where I feel most comfortable with the compromise of quality versus ease of use.

For the first 20 or so years of my photographic interest I was predominantly a landscape and natural history photographer, throwing in a little historic architecture and aviation when the mood struck. More recently, I have become much more interested in shooting people and abstract, thought provoking, subjects and this is where my move toward portraiture, weddings and commercial photography has come from.

Until early 2007 the core of my work was in computing with photography as a lesser part of my life working life. From this point I began working to shift the balance, reducing the amount of time I spent as an IT consultant while increasing my time behind a camera. The transition has gone well and inspired me to investigate new areas of photography as I discover them.

A brief history of my existence would involve telling you that I gained a BSc in Computer Studies from the Glasgow Caledonian University; that I have worked as a support engineer and database designer & developer for Telecom Sciences Corporation Ltd in Airdrie; that I was a Windows NT Server Technical Design Specialist with IBM Global Services on projects for the likes of SC Johnson, Lloyds TSB, ICI and Continental Tyres while based in Winchester; and that since the 1st of March 2002 I have run my own IT consultancy and photography business.

Between the summers of 2004 and 2007 I was a director of CAcert Incorporated: an Australian organisation dedicated to building a Web of Trust model and providing free SSL certificates to those who were unable or unwilling to pay the ridiculously high amounts demanded by the leading providers.

I have gained professional recognition from the British Computer Society and will be seeking the status of Chartered Information Technology Professional once I find the time to do so! In June 2006 I was invited to join the committee for the Glasgow and West Coast of Scotland branch of the BCS and in August 2007 I was voted in as the Vice Chairman.

I have been a member of the Royal Photographic Society since June 2006 and will be seeking Licentiate status in the next year or so. I am currently undecided about membership of the British Institute of Professional Photography or the Society for Wedding and Portrait Photographers, but one, if not both, will be joined in the near future.