I’m Andy. Webmaster, geek and photographer extraordinaire. To break that down further, I’m a professional geek and an amateur photographer. It used to be the other way round. Sort of. Professional photographer might be pushing it though. I used to work at Jessops!
Back in 2003 I moved to London from that mythical city “Leeds/Wakefield”, West Yorkshire. After a brief stint making video games for EA I bluffed my way into a job at Jessops. I’d barely even touched a camera by that point. Fortunately the staff and regular customers there were brilliant and taught me absolutely everything one needs to know about photography. I learned my way around film SLR’s and experienced the boom of digital photography.
I even worked in the lab for a few months. Ah the wall of shame! Seriously people, if you’re going to take pictures of yourself naked in the forest, use digital and self print. Never, ever, ever take them in to a shop full of students!
The most important lesson I learned is that photography isn’t just about using a camera, you’ve got to have “the eye”! Some people have it, some people don’t. Many people tell me I have it. Personally, I just hate taking snaps and I seem to see things other people wouldn’t possibly think would make a good photo. My composition’s not too bad either.
My number one pet peeve is Photoshop. If the picture isn’t right before you leave the scene, take it again. I once had a rant on Twitter that nobody listened to (ah Twitter!) about using a Photoshop tutorial to create tilt shift photography. Isn’t the joy of tilt shift photography supposed to be found in building the DIY lens and experimenting? Not running through a 15 minute tutorial, surely?!
I have recently started selling my work and am currently holding an exhibition at a pilates studio in Cambridge. See the Exhibition page for further information.