The Dark Hedges. Ireland - Limited Edition 1 of 25 Photograph

I was born in the 1960's in the war torn Creggan Estate in Derry Ireland during what has become known as the Troubles, the most violent time in the history of Ireland. Many of my influences have come from the way I view the world, with always from a young age enjoying and questioning art and photography. I was educated at a Catholic Grammar school and was punished for being individual and self assured with my only succour being my view of the world through the lens of my camera and my study of art appreciation. My main career was as a chef having travelled around the world cooking at a very high level in some of the worlds top hotels and restaurants internationally in places such as London, England, Zurich, Switzerland, Stockholm, Sweden, Philadelphia, PA. USA, Leeds England, Belfast. Ireland with work stages and my charity work, bringing me to many great places on my travels to China, Chile, Brazil, Nepal, Czech Republic, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, & most recently New Zealand. I have been working and studying every year and I am a great believer in lifelong learning. I now live with my family of my wife Helen and our three daughters and we live in the countryside now in beautiful Ballyronan, County Derry in the North of Ireland. My Artistic influences are vast but I am driven by the works of the Impressionists Manet, Monet et al and more inclined to Post Impressionism, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gaugain, and moving then towards Henri Matisse in Fauvism. I also enjoy the linear effects of the Cubists Braque, Dali and Picasso. My current artistic portfolio is a real montage of my lifetime skill set and critical eye but my main medium now being the enhancement and digital distortion of life through photographic manipulation, using overlays, in the round Impressionistic styling and the adding of value through photomorphing, resulting in new, risqué and thought provoking images that tell their own story.