About

How it all began

I don’t really like talking or writing about myself, so I thought I would share how this website came about.

I first got into Photography in 2001 when I did a 2 week course in “low light and shooting though cover” course at the “Joint School of Photography” now renamed to the “Defence School of Photography” as of 2003.

It opened my eyes into what was possible with camera’s and up to that point in my life I merely owned a typical house hold camera for the usual family happy snaps.

Some of my other hobbies include Bikes, Diving, Computers and Travel whilst trying to entertain my two amazing daughters oh and the truly amazing wife

My life changed for the better in 2006 when I left the forces and started my own small web design business and I saved for a Nikon D200, the only reason I went for Nikon by the way is simple, the above JSOP course used only Nikon and its what I was trained on, so I knew where every function was and how to use it, I also purchased a Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 lens and a 50mm prime lens.

I started taking family photos as I have 2 beautiful daughters, I didn’t really find a niche as such with my photography I just took memorable photos of the kids, in 2008 I decided to sell all my camera kit to do the “Family Garden” for the kids as you do, and at that point I only really got the camera out on special occasions so I couldn’t justify have £3000 worth of camera kit in the cupboard for special occasions.

I missed my photography for several years… just using the typical family camera to get the children growing up and could never really achieve the shots I wanted to get.

In 2011 I purchased a D7000 and have slowly been building my kit back up!!! much to the wife’s complaints because we all know camera kit isn’t the cheapest of kit to buy, camera, lenses, filters, flashes, tripods, tripod heads, camera bag, memory cards, backup facilities, software… and the list goes on and on.

At the end of 2011 I then started to notice amazing landscape photos on the net and wondered how on earth do they do that, and began to ask myself why don’t my photos look like that, so I set out a challenge to learn landscape photography.

I booked up on a days tuition with James Grant who shoots in the Peak District in March 2012 and have not looked back since.

My Time Line

• 2 Week Photography Course – 2001
• Purchased Nikon D200 my First DSLR – 2006
• Sold Nikon D200 For Home Improvements – 2008
• Purchased Nikon D7000 – August 2011
• Started Landscape Photography – January 2012
• Installed www.jamespictures.co.uk – July 2012
• Started Social Media Sharing – November 2012
• Sold my first Print!! a 18×12 Lustre Print of “The Abyss” – January 2013
• Opened my on-line shop selling Prints and Mounts – February 2013

My Kit