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I've been taking photographs for a long time. At first I used mainly to take my camera on holiday, or on days out. But there is little more annoying to a companion, who may just want to get on with sightseeing or shopping, than having to hang around whilst I sort out the best angle, exposure, differential focus...
So increasingly I would go out alone with my camera specifically to take photographs, and generally the results would be a bit better. Here's one I took in Paris thirty years ago, and it's still probably my all-time favourite.
Just occasionally I would go out early in the day or late in the evening, when the "photographers' rulebook" tells you the best images are to be found (and on the whole it's true). But I didn't really specialise. It was easier to say what I didn't take photographs of: no studio portraits, not too much natural history, certainly no weddings (far too prescriptive, unless you can mooch around in the background looking for the candid shots).
I have even mounted exhibitions called "So what sort of pictures do you take then?", because that was the question I was always asked, but couldn't satisfactorily answer.
More recently, though, I have started to notice a few trends in the types of photographic subject that attract me. So if you go to the Main Gallery, where most of my images are, you'll see that there are some themes, such as reflections in glass or water, that I think are fairly self-explanatory. I've tried to group most of my images in this way, but you'll also find a "Mixed Bag" section where I've put everything that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else, because galleries with one image in them might really be a little tedious.
As to where I take photographs, I live in London, so the city is well represented here. Over the years I have travelled across the UK, and quite widely in Europe, so France - particularly Paris, Italy and Spain also figure heavily.
I worked in the USA for 18 months in the 80s, and have visited a few times since, so there are a lot of American images. Just a few images from more far-flung places are scattered through the site.
I have removed all of the "sales" functionality from the website - with the exception of postcards - to focus more on displaying the images.
However if you are interested in using, or buying, any of the images in any form, please Let Me Know.
I have also kept separate from the main galleries a number of "rolling exhibitions", presented only as slideshows because the theme is more important than the inidvidual images. One on the theme of "Waiting" (the only place on the site where people figure to any great extent) and another on the illuminations of Strasbourg Cathedral.
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For a number of images in the Main Gallery I have used a software filter called Poster Edges, which creates a sort of "heightened " effect on lines and borders withn the image. This works best on pictures of buildings and urban landscapes, but sometimes works in other circumstances. Here's an example. (Some people dislike this effect, but I think it can often be rather effective.)
The filter can be varied in intensity, so that on some images it's hardly noticeable, while on others, like this one, it creates a slightly "stylised" effect. I had previously put all such images in a separate group, but I have now divided them among the various themed categories, on the grounds that it's not the method used that's important but the final result.
I've also used other software filters to create effects on a few other images. They should be pretty obvious when you see them! The gallery called "Special Effects" contains a few examples of where I have taken a filter - "poster edges" or otherwise - a little further to create a specific and unusual effect. (I haven't offered explanations because in most cases I can't remember what I did!)
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The second and third Galleries are called "Horizontles"and "Verticles" (sic) and contain elongated images. The original idea of producing "vertical" prints came from an exhibition where I had to fill a space in a corner that was rather narrow. The image I used, shown here, sold several times, and was clearly being used for a similar purpose in people's homes. I extended this to produce a few panoramic landscape images (maybe to go over the mantelpiece, or the bed).
The fourth Gallery, Choose your Colours, shows images created using a software effect called "Threshold", which separates the image into two single tones, one black, one white. The white part can then be filled in by any colour(s).