Biography

The past

I grew up just North of Inverness on the Black Isle. I left school to study Hospitality Management at Inverness College, because I had aspirations to be a top chef. At college, I entered a number Catering Industry cooking competitions and was successful on several occasions, winning a Gold medal at the Scohot Salon Culinaire and coming runner up in the Scottish Junior Chef of the Year 1989. After graduating, I worked as a commis chef at the prestigious Gleneagles hotel in Perth-shire, under Executive Chef Mr. Alan Hill. I worked there for just over a year, before moving on to further develop my career. Over the next few years I worked up and down the country, from the centre of London to the Isle of Skye, but always within the Hotel and Catering Industry. During this time I had the wonderful opportunity to work with some of the Country’s best Chefs, including Tony Jackson and Willie Pyke from the Scottish Culinary Team, but not forgetting Chef and good friend Ian Mahood from London’s (old) Wembley Stadium.

In 1994 I went back to college to study towards an HCIMA professional diploma in Hospitality Management at the College of Food Technology in Glasgow. On successful graduation, I stayed and worked within the Scottish Central belt, holding Food and Beverage Management positions for Stakis Plc and also for Mr. Ken Mcculloch in the prestigious hotel 'One Devonshire Gardens' in Glasgow, I also had the experience of working alongside Chef Andrew Fairlea, in the kitchens, when he received his first Michelin Star for 'One Devonshire Gardens'.

During all of the time since leaving school, I maintained an interest in photography, albeit in a reduced capacity, due to work demands within the Catering Industry.

In 1997 my career took a bit of a diversion, when I decided to pursue other interests, which included the outdoors and my passion for rock climbing. I took the decision to re-train as an IRATA rope access technician and since then I have continued my training within the rope access industry. I am now a level 3 rope access supervisor, and in addition I have undertaken training in several NDT disciplines.

The Present

I now work for an International Rope Access NDT company as an offshore project coordinator. This position has given me the opportunity to travel worldwide and allowed me the time to rekindle my long-term interest in photography. I still keep my hand in at the cooking, with the occasional dinner party at the mansion house where I live, cooking private dinner parties and functions for anything between 10 and 160 people. I enjoy the cooking as much now as I did when I left college and still maintain membership in the HCIMA (Hospitality Catering and International Management Association.) I have enjoyed the way my career has diversified, I am constantly seeking change and new directions, and enjoy my current work because of the variety and travel opportunities it offers.

I have also enjoyed the challenge of changing my career directions. While some say that we should only have one career direction in our life. My varied and diverse career path has allowed me to travel extensively and come into contact with a great number of different people and expose me large variety of life’s experiences.

Though my career has been very varied the 2 things that have stayed with me throughout have been a love of the outdoors and a love for variety & change in my life. This combination has kept my eyes open to the world around us, and with it a passion to capture these ever changing experiences.

I made the conversion to digital photography in 1998 and would now not return to shooting with film, the adaptability of digital over film is excellent, and while initially I appreciate there was a sacrifice in image quality using digital, these days with the progression in technology this is simply not an issue.

I now shoot with a Canon 1DS Mark II, which I believe, is better offers better image quality than 35mm and even challenges the quality offered by Medium Format, and this quality offered will inevitably progress even more given time.

The setting up of this website was for me both an opportunity to display my portfolio and show off my capabilities and interests as a photographer and an opportunity to offer my prints on the worldwide market place and perhaps, hopefully sell some of them.

The Future

What the future really holds for me, I have no idea… I would like to develop my photography and diversify my career again to include the photography a little more. I currently undertake some freelance work during my spare time, getting the occasional publication in magazines, and cover the occasional function and wedding. Perhaps I may be able to find a balance between Rope Access and Photography, supplementing one with the other during lean times….

It is my aim to continue my personal development and train further in Photography, though I have yet to find an accredited & recognized College Photography Course that does not involve darkroom work. I have no desire to undertake darkroom work, I work digitally; I undertake all my processing of RAW files in front of a PC..!

I also aim (as much as my budget will allow) to keep up to date with technology changes, and progress my photography equipment as technology progresses. I believe that gone are the days where you invested in a camera body that you kept for 20 years and used as a workhorse. Nowadays camera bodies (like laptops & computers) are ‘outdated’ in 2 to 3 years. I therefore have invested in high quality lenses and it is these I will keep hold of, and progress my camera bodies in line with technological advances.