About

I have taken photos most of my life and and I have created digital art for over thirty years. I’ve enjoyed a creative career that has spanned over five decades. Working for and with large corporates, medium to small enterprises and running my own creative studio has given me in-depth experience in every aspect and level of the publishing industry. 

From ‘lick and stick’ and hot-metal typesetting beginnings through to the digital age of content creation and cloud-based publishing. It has been an exciting journey of learning and innovating with rewarding collaborations.

More than ten years ago I began taking photographs with an iPhone, a huge shift from the Canon DSLR and multiple lenses that I had previously used. Smartphone photography became an obsession and my iPhone has been my preferred camera for many years. 

Because I use an smartphone doesn’t mean that everything I’ve learnt about photography over the last forty years should be ignored. I believe iPhone photography has helped make me a better photographer with greater opportunity, convenience and flexibility. 

Since 2015 I have presented smartphone photography talks to camera clubs, photographic societies and corporate events.

> iPhone Photography Portfolio

My passion is to use my photography as a means for creative expression rather than faithfully documenting a subject or scene. My goal is to express awareness, perception, or an emotion. Read a recent interview with Joanne Carter aka @theappwhisperer, the World’s most popular mobile photography and art website.

Emotions inspire and fuel our creativity, my own style of art varies with mood, inspiration and technique. The ability of a traditional artist to express context and emotion with a stroke of brush or knife is the same freedom of creativity that I aspire to with my photography and digital art. 

Through the practice of intentional camera movement and multiple exposures I express a personal interpretation of light and form. My re-imagined coastal scenes created in an abstract style with impressionistic, free-flowing camera movements are the result of emotion and spontaneity. I call these images Coastal Impressions and I’m closer to these pieces of art than any other I’ve ever created. I also use similar in-camera techniques to produce my Urban Echoes series offering surreal perspectives evolved from everyday life.

I often create fine detailed images as is evident in my Pixel Painted Art. I create these images in an attempt to further express myself beyond the capture of the original photo. I may want to create a mood or atmosphere that wasn't possible to portray when taking the original shot. In 2013 I was awarded an Associate (ARPS) distinction from The Royal Photographic Society in their Visual Arts category. Post processing techniques play a major part in the creation of these images. Transforming a photo into a realistic work of art requires cutting-edge artistic tools and at the heart of my desktop workflow lies the phenomenal Corel Painter®, the world's most advanced digital painting software. In 2017 I was awarded 'Feature Artist' status by Corel in recognition of the art that I produce in their phenomenal software. 

Over the years I have painted in traditional oils, acrylic and watercolour and this experience helps me when creating digital art. More recently I have created a workflow using the wide range of artistic apps available on on Apple's iOS system. By 'stacking' results from various apps, I can merge the resuts into a final composite piece. My Expressions Art is created in this way, 

Much of my work sits somewhere between reality and imagination. I am compelled to create loose, impressionist or abstract work such as my Manchester Worker Bee tribute. 

I have been fortunate to present my art in exhibitions and galleries through the years. 

Even though I run workshops and present demonstrations on how to take smartphone photos and how to create photo art, I always appreciate being asked Why? and not necessarily How? Exhibitions are a fantastic chance to engage with viewers share my viewpoint with an audience. Sharing identity is an important part of creating meaningful work.