How did your interest in photography start? 

Like most people over the years I have taken photographs of drunken teenage holidays, family outings and children, however my obsession with photography began shortly after my son started GCSE Photography at school. He quickly realised that if he was to have any hope of escaping my constant unsolicited (not to mention ill-informed) advice, he needed to distract me somehow. His solution was to buy me a camera for Christmas (an ancient Praktica courtesy of eBay).  

Since then its been the tragic and all too familiar tale of compulsion and addiction, and I’ve been a regular attendee at Snappers Anonymous meetings ever since. 

What are your first photography memories?

I used to spend the summer holidays at my grandparents’ house and my grandfather was a photography lecturer at a local college. He had a darkroom in the cellar and my main recollections are the smell of the darkroom chemicals and the seemingly endless boxes of discarded 120 spools and backing papers.

What type of photographs did you start taking initially and how has that changed over the years?

I seem to recall initially doing quite a lot of black and white work, exploring shape, texture, line and whatnot. I used to get up early at weekends and roam for miles around Wokingham and Reading - and was rewarded with a lot of boring and rather unremarkable photographs.

Like many other club members, I signed up for the City & Guilds courses at Woodley Hill House and the modules for that provided me with some direction and focus.  The assignments also provoked my imagination and I would develop an idea of the photograph I wanted to make, before picking up my camera.  

Over the years I’ve been rather fickle; film, digital, colour, mono, pinhole, composites, blurred, sharp, landscapes, portraits, street, editorial and all stations in between.  

Sometimes I wonder whether I should concentrate on one approach and to try and build a body of recognisable work, but I’ve come to the conclusion that if variety feeds my motivation and creativity; then it should be embraced - but it’s probably best to keep the output of these different aesthetics in individual collections and not mix them up (not without good reason, anyway).

At the moment I’m slowly working on a collection of colour, wide angle landscapes with lots of depth of field (re Mark Power)…. while toying with the idea of starting a series of blurred mono photographs (re Martin Bogren).

Name three pieces of photographic equipment that you would not want to be without and why

Photography is really the eternal pursuit of the perfect camera bag. Like every photographer I have accumulated lots of largely superfluous and unnecessary equipment, thinking “If only I had that expensive flangefilterthing, my photographs would be so much better”. Eventually, I have come to realise that these gizmos and bottles of snake oil are designed to separate fools from their money while in reality adding very little to our photography.  

I think a new camera or lens’s greatest gift is its novelty and if it encourages you to take it out and use it, then it was probably worth the price.

Increasingly these days I want as little getting between me and the photograph as possible. So my three things are; a camera that I know really well where I know where everything is with the camera to my eye; a prime lens whose focal length and framing I know well; and my bus fare. 

Where do you get your inspiration from for new ideas and new photographic work? 

I take inspiration from various sources; visiting exhibitions, studying photography books (monographs, not “how to” guides), and attending workshops, talks and book launches. 

I have a lot of photography books. No, I mean an awful lot. I’ve unloaded most of the “how to” books and just focus on monographs, but I suffer terribly from tsundoku - the Japanese term for buying books that largely go unread.  I regularly try to discipline myself by determining that I will look at a photography book every day. My record for consecutive days so far is 3.

I often borrow ideas from other photographers, perhaps a particular style or an approach to initiate a project or portfolio of photographs. For example Martin Bogren’s Tractor Boys had a significant influence on my Bangers work.

To help me discover new photographers I subscribe to newsletters from organisations and book sellers, such as;  Magnum, photoeye.com, gostbooks.com, beyondwords.co.uk and others.

I can also recommend a daily email that introduces a new photographer every day - you can subscribe at photosnack.email 

When did you join Wokingham Photography Club and what do you enjoy most about it?

I was astonished to discover that I joined the club in 2007! 

After the City & Guilds courses I had an evening to fill and I wanted to continue my explore photography as a creative outlet.

The aspects I find most enjoyable are; the social interaction, the varied and engaging programme, in particular the guest speakers and the member focussed events.