Andy Warhol

I am not a professional photographer, but then I am not a professional anything!

I spent most of my working life in the corporate world and my thirty year career took me around the UK and then around Europe and then around the world. I spent almost a year in Bahrain, took over 20 trips to North America, mostly Canada, visited over 20 other countries across four continents on business trips and have lived in South Africa for the last 14 years.

I am very lucky to have had such opportunities and experiences.

On the other hand, I was away from home, a lot! Away from my family and friends. I missed social events and family celebrations. I cancelled holidays and the demarcation between work time and home time became almost non-existent. More than that, as you try and progress your career, you almost inevitably start to wear a mask and over time that mask becomes harder and harder to distinguish from the ‘real’ you - at least that was my experience. For many years I wore a mask almost the entire time. Over the last few years, there is no doubt that I left the mask at home more often and became more authentic, but corporate life has its realities. To a greater or lesser extent, everybody is wearing a mask, everybody is playing a role. It was, what I referred to (in my internal monologue) as ‘the dance’.

It was about 15 years ago that i realised photography was my ‘thing’. Too old to play rugby and too anti-social for most other hobbies, photography gave me peace and was my only creative outlet. Photography became my escape but unfortunately I had very little time and, as you will know, once you really get into the photography mindset, taking ‘snaps’ doesn’t satisfy the urge. We need time; time to travel to the right locations, time to wait for the right light, time to set up the composition, time to just sit and enjoy the process. Time is the one thing I didn’t have and, whilst my career was going well, time is the one thing that money can not buy! So, I snatched a few hours where I could. When I travelled, I walked the streets of Toronto, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Paris et al, sometimes with a camera and sometimes with just a phone. Occasionally, on longer trips, I spent a weekend morning alone in the outdoors.

In early 2021, I left my corporate role and started a business with a friend and ex-colleague, hoping that we would be able to create a business with capacity for balance. Balance between seeking profit and treating people right, balance between business protocol and integrity, balance between work and play. We achieved a lot but we didn’t achieve the last balance.

The reason that clichés become clichés is that there is inherent truth in them and “if it was easy everybody would do it” is a cliché for a reason! I’ve worked hard my entire career, but this four years had an intensity beyond! After selling the business I completed the tie in period with the acquirer and left the business, my baby, in June 2025. The next 18 months will be spent with my family and with my camera.

For the second half of this year I will be visiting and re-visiting a bunch of places in South/Southern Africa, that I haven’t spent any or sufficient time in. I will then be returning to the UK at the end of the year and 2026 will be spent exploring and shooting. There will be the obvious locations, such as the Peak District, the Lake District and some less common locations as I get my bearings.

I am fortunate that I can afford to take a couple of years away from working life (I’m too young to say I’ve retired, but here’s hoping!) and I am going to spend as much time as possible in nature. With its beauty and it’s unpredictability, nature is real and, after thirty years of ‘the dance’, I need to rest my feet and my soul. I need real.

I will be making and sharing photographs and I truly hope you like them, but, then again, I don’t really mind if you don’t. If I happen to sell an image or two, then I’ll see that as another few days out of the dance, but it is not my motivation. I want to get up tired, in the dark, drive for hours to a spot I’ve only seen on Google Maps, get lost and frustrated as I try and find the right footpath, sit in anticipation hoping for ‘that’ light and then, wait… for as long as I need to, without dreading the music and without needing to reach for the mask.