1. What excites you about your work?

Capturing spontaneity, juxtaposition or just seeing the truth. We all love to shoot images in spectacular light, but unusual context and sheer luck are just as magnetic. I crave a single figure in my work all the time, they just add that something extra, something so identifiable.

  1. What keeps you motivated?

The fear of returning to some awful job again. I spent many years pursuing creative endeavours without ever generating income, unhappy in my job. Other motivators, like any job, are naturally finance and business driven. What is particularly wonderful is knowing that something I created has substantiated greater possibilities. That, in itself, is a huge motivator.

  1. What does your photography get used for?

I mainly work in the field of digital image licensing so I sell work through image agencies worldwide, mainly to advertising, editorial and magazine related clientele. I also deal with calendar companies who like my bold and colourful style in particular. I also supply many photography magazines with landscape work, but recently I have been shooting commissions for travel guides and corporate clients, both architecturally and in the landscape. I have never had very little luck with prints and galleries so I reluctantly stay clear.

  1. What has been your favourite photograph you have created and why?

I will always be very proud of my huge wave explosions from the Cornish cliffs. It was an unbelievable ten minutes of intensity accompanied by lots of air punching and expletives. I got myself in the right place at the right time by acting instinctively which made me very proud of myself. The elation from that day will stay with me forever.

  1.  What advice would you give someone trying to start out?

Be reactionary and follow your instincts. Copy and learn by looking for tripod indents, don’t be ashamed, because professionals make a living out of this. Stop inducing imaginary politics and just go for it. I would also recommend learning the ability to write contemporary words to accompany your work. It gives clients a complete package should they require it. I often feel like I have a camera in one hand and keyboard in the other.

  1.  Any final thoughts?

When you learn your craft, look around at what everyone else is doing and then don’t do that.

  1. Why did you become a photographer?

To escape from my boring life. I was a water engineer, working on leakage and pressure management contracts. After a variety of placements around the UK, the job sank to a new low point - driving sewage around in a small van. I didn’t actually mind it to be honest, radio on, getting a truck drivers tan, but one day aged 31, the penny dropped… is this the pinnacle of my achievement, driving liquid turd around in a van?

  1. When did you become professional?

I got my first agency contract in 2006, so you could say that was when I became semi professional, but I only became fully professional in the summer of 2009. This is the hardest thing I have ever done, because I reluctantly waved goodbye to guitar teaching. This was the first job I had truly enjoyed, which taught me the ropes of running a successful business.

  1. Digital or film?

For me, photography is about the marriage of computer and camera. I never got on with film one bit. My early attempts left me head butting the steering wheel sat in the lab car park more times than I can remember. Three years of nonsense or lucky shots.... what a joke. The greater technology advances, the more doorways become opened in the mind. These are exciting times.

  1. How do you create concepts?

I base my photography on running a business, so I try to shoot the obvious, the colourful as the diving into the unknown. My partner Rachel is an avid traveller, so I am massively influenced by her often unusual choices. As she is a history teacher, we explore all manner of subject matters that I would otherwise dismiss, so I happily slide in and out of ideas all the time.
Climbing the slippery wall to success