I was born in north-eastern England, kicked out of school at 16 after flunking everything but English - my only written qualification in the world is my driver's licence - and entered journalism at 18. That was in 1966. I've worked, either on staff or as a freelance, for newspapers, magazines and websites in Canada, the U.S., Britain and Australia. I left the Toronto Star in 2008 after 23 years on staff and went out on my own.
I moved to the States in 1973, living and working in New York and Philadelphia. In 1982, I headed to Toronto, where I've lived ever since. I'm a Canadian citizen; married with three cats and a collection of model buses.
I've traveled widely, on every continent but Antarctica, and got into serious photography during a stint as a travel writer at the Star. Digital cameras have allowed me to hone my skills.
I work as simply as possible: one camera, one lens, no lights. Though I don't aspire to their standards of excellence, my role models are Henri Cartier-Bresson, for his unerring eye and fast reactions, and John Deakin, for his merciless technique as a portrait photographer. No one said "cheese" when Deakin was clicking the shutter. Like him, I don't believe the camera should be the subject's friend. Truth comes out of an adversarial relationship.
I'm also a great admirer of Andrew Stawicki, a hugely talented former Toronto Star photographer and co-founder of PhotoSensitive, "a non-profit collective. . . determined to explore how photography can contribute to social justice." I was inspired to work as much as possible in black-and-white by PhotoSensitive's belief that monochrome "forces viewers to concentrate on the image rather than the photograph." It isn't always the best option, of course, so I'll happily shoot in colour if I have to.
I was the subject of a ridiculously flattering profile in the September, 2009, issue of North East Life magazine.
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