As a photographer, has it always been landscape that has captured your imagination?
There was always a camera around when I was a child and my grandparents had a huge collection of family photographs going back years that I would spend hours looking through. So I grew up with photography and a fascination with the photographic image and like every one else I guess I photographed anything and everything.
But as I moved into my early 20s I combined my interest in photography with my love of the outdoors and began to concentrate on landscape photography. I'm a great believer that we should photograph our passions, the things that inspire us, and I never fail to be moved by the sights, sounds and smells of the landscape.
How long have you been a full-time professional?
I sold my first photograph in 1987 and since then I have done various stints of freelancing around a full-time job, then on a part time basis. I've been a full-time professional now for over 10 years.
Deciding to go professional is a big decision. What made you decide that the time was right?
I first considered being a professional photographer way back in my early teens but to get on a college course at the time you needed to be good at science and maths. Unfortunately, they were the subjects I hated the most at school so I abandoned that idea! But photography remained an interest and at different times in my life I considered taking it up as a profession. However, it was a coincidence of things in my life that made the decision easier: my kids getting older and my wife working full-time, plus the death of my father reaffirmed that you only get one shot at this life and that you shouldn't postpone your ambitions because no one knows what the future holds. I'd rather be on my deathbed knowing I'd given professional photography my best shot than regretting I had never tried to make it work. There's nothing like a reminder of ...