Biography
I've just recently retired. I've done this once before but this time I mean it. For most of my life I've been a teacher. I have a Physics degree and have taught Physics and general science, mostly to sixth form students. I got my first camera for my 21st -an Olympus OM1 -and I still have it . I also have 25 other cameras, in all formats from 5x4 inch to micro 4/3, because I just grow attached to them and can't bring myself to sell them on. I didn't really get into digital photography until quite recently- I was brought up in the darkroom with red light and the smell of chemicals and the joy of seeing the developing image appearing on the paper. It amuses me that the younger generation are getting back into film photography in a big way because of the way it renders the image in a less digital way with less saturated colours. They also like the randomness of it and the fact that they have to wait a week or so to get their pictures developed. Been there, done that. I hope to be able to devote far more of my time to photography in the coming years and that is why I've decided to set up this website. I'm never happier than when I'm wandering around taking images. People often stop me and question what I'm doing as the kind of pictures I take don't always fit their idea of what a photograph should be. Mostly they are friendly but sometimes they aren't. I have a cunning plan to make little business cards and, when I meet people I will pass them a card with this web site address on it and encourage them to, maybe, have a look and give me some feedback. It might be an ice breaker, because what I'd like most of all is to photograph them but I just don't have the courage to ask. One day I would like to have a page called 'Portraits' on this site. I don't really have a plan beyond that, but I would like to try to take on some longer term projects rather then just looking for single images to feed the black hole that is Instagram. I live in Cullercoats which is a little port on the north east coast of England. Mostly it is a tourist spot these days with ubiquitous coffee shops rather than Fisherman's cottages. I can't imagine living anywhere else because I love being by the sea. Most of my images are taken within a ten mile radius- Newcastle is only eight miles away. I quite enjoy writing so `I have recently added a page called 'Chris's Blogs' which will take you to my Blog Site. When I left university my ideal job would have been in photojournalism but that's a hard career path to crack. Now, maybe, I have a chance to try a bit of amateur photojournalism and that would be a dream come true. I'm really excited to embark on this new retirement opportunity!
If you feel that you might be interested in purchasing an image, just drop me an e- mail via the contact page and I'll get back to you. Any money I might make will go towards the cost of printing paper, ink, film and other consumables.
Best wishes,
Chris