I am a passionate press and community lifestyle photographer from Colchester, Essex, UK. I started my career in 1973 on the weekly Colchester Express Newspaper as a trainee with only basic photography skills when I was about 18 years old.

I had had a few photographs published in local newspapers and magazines mainly due to my father Ray Rushton being a journalist and art reviewer.

My first few days on the paper made me realise that the photography wasn't everything. My chief photographer at the time, Des Blake sent me out to take photographs in the local park, so off I trotted and returned with photos of 'The Park'. Where are the people he stormed at me, First lesson learned, dealing with people and asking them to be in photographs was not easy for me at that time but I got there.

Since then I have learned to face up to many types of people, good and bad and get the pictures I wanted. I am now semi retired after a lifetime on and off local papers having had my job made redundant along with many others. Not wanting to get back into freelance work I decided to set up a Facebook page Colchester Life In Photographs, covering the local events I have loved doing through my career and so keeping many people entertained and keeping my skills alive. It also gives me somewhere to show off my archive of photographs.

I am now the archivist of the Colchester Express photographs that were published between 1958 and 1978 the papers last publication date. I hold negatives, colour transparencies, prints,cuttings and the photographic assignment diaries all of which I am attempting to digitise.