Amsterdam Street Scene Photograph

Born in Edinburgh in 1959. I was born and raised in the Scottish borders and Edinburgh before moving to Plymouth in 1970, aged 11. My interest in photography first took hold as a teenager and after 30 years pursuing other avenues of creativity in my business life, I again seriously picked up my camera. My first experiences with cameras were at school, where I tried and enjoyed bw photography and made good use of their darkroom. As for my studies, I had an equal aptitude for both science and art but ended up going down the business route in my career. I'd pick up my camera again from time to time - I've owned a couple of Zeniths and a Praktica at various times - still getting a lot of enjoyment from both the taking and in the results. There's something raw about well-executed black and white photography that has always reached in and touched me deeply. Colour is all fine and dandy - some shots take my breath away in their appeal to my higher senses. But it takes b&w to pluck at my more basic, primaeval instincts. I think it's that connection which attracts me to this genre. Light/line, tone/texture, pattern/perspective and structure/abstraction; when I see these in everyday scenes and objects, all it takes is the right convergence of those factors and the right viewpoint... there's beauty to be found in the most unexpected of places.