I used to be a runner and marathons took me to some amazing places around the world. But I spent all my time looking down at my feet and not taking in what was all around.
​
I dabbled in photography and invested in quite a few cameras from good old film cameras, point and shoots and an SLR. I used the basic functions but getting more in-depth scared me. But I loved taking photographs and felt I did have ‘a good eye’.
​
Then iPhones came out and the cameras on these got better and better and I started to really look for things to capture. Leaves, puddles, fungi, my dogs!
​
It wasn’t long before my first DSLR came along - Canon 80D - and a course with a professional photographer helped get my head around the exposure triangle, leading lines, composition etc.
Next came a telephoto lens which got me close to wildlife without the need to get too close. WOW! Now my eyes were open to the sights and sounds around me.
​
I started to learn my birds, their song, their colours, habitats, behaviours. Being able to capture that on camera was just an extra thrill. To get the detail on them was fascinating.
Then came the red squirrels which are so incredibly amusing and photographing them always makes me grin.
It wasn’t long before the 80D was upgraded to Canon 5D MkIV. A new telephoto lens and even better performance and results.
I still have this camera and now use it for portrait and landscape work.
​
For wildlife I’ve moved to mirrorless and have the Canon R7 which performs beautifully with high speed shutter than can be silenced so as not to spook particularly nervous wildlife.
So I used to run - now I walk very, very slowly!
​
The remote areas of Scotland are a wonderful place to head to for peace and beauty and my love of the mountains will see me taking the camera on many more adventures. It’s a land I really do want to showcase in my work.