Photography @ Weeping Ash

I arrived in the middle of the last century in the Essex seaside town of Leigh-on-Sea in the UK.

First photographs were made around age 14 with an old Halina Prefect camera I inherited from my uncle in New Zealand. I still have that camera - now part of a growing collection of relics - and some of those early pictures. During the years that followed, as I wrestled with a career choice between art and science, I became fascinated and enthralled by the whole process of making photographs to the point where I gave up a place at university studying electronics to take a two-year photographic course.

In the 1960s in the UK, nearly all photography courses were at technical colleges, not art schools. I studied scientific photography without ever hearing mention of key components of photographic art history such as The Linked Ring, Photo-Secession, f64 or Picture Post. Photographers such as Brandt, Weston, Frank and Adams never featured and I remained ignorant of such inspiring work for far too long. I knew that photography had something unique to offer, both on a cultural and personal level and as a way of combining art and science, but was unsure of the direction to take to realise this.

As a teenager, I had a subscription to Life magazine and had seen some of the best photojournalism of the period. Although I admired this way of working, I knew it wasn't the path for me. I was devoted to the method of photography but had yet to discover the methodology that suited me. On leaving college, I went to work at Cambridge University and only dabbled in 'personal' photography occasionally, in a truly amateur sense. My professional career required knowledge of the photographic process, but I could never claim I earned my living from photography.

One sparkling day in Harrow-on-the-Hill, London, in the early 1970s, I made some personal photographs that changed my outlook completely. A brilliant light on the tombstones of Harrow cemetery led to prints that went beyond a mere record of the subject; they tapped into something deeper. I started to explore this new discovery - one that many before me had made I now know. I discovered Creative Camera magazine and was inspired by what it contained.

Exhibitions of photography were rare in Britain in the 70s but I sought out whatever I could. 'The Land' exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, in 1975 was a revelation - here I first encountered some of the very best landscape practitioners. Edward Weston original prints on show at MOMA in Oxford held me in awe. The way forward was now clear.

From there on, I studied personal technique in a way that was never taught in college. I explored the Zone System, fine printing and print finishing but more importantly I began to work to promote photography as a means of self-expression and personal realisation. I helped set up a voluntary co-operative in Cambridge, UK, called the St Matthews Photo Workshop which, over time and with much help from others, became The Cambridge Darkroom Gallery and Workshop, a registered charity.

During the 1980s, I taught on workshops, had work exhibited and received an Arts Council grant, as well as acting as printer for the Edwin Smith archive. The 1990s saw a long break from 'serious' photography as my career moved away from the medium and left little time or inclination to pursue personal work. In recent years the spark has been re-ignited. This web site contains the embers of the past and any current sparks that glow bright enough to make it here.