I like to think of myself as not being half as grumpy as I once was, thats down to joining Flickr. Now, after making some freinds and contacts from around the world, I am beginning to feel like I belong again.

I retired from the fire service some years ago, and being single, decided to invest most of my time to travelling round the UK and France in my Hymer motorhome. I was brought up in the north west of England, but my spiritual homeland has to be Scotland. A beautiful country with marvellous people and the most stunning scenery in the world.

France is my second favourite country(and its close) . So close to home, but so undiscovered, especially by the english. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness shown by french people when over there.

My camera gear is Nikon digitally, a D700 and a D80. I still use large format film gear for the right shots, a Horseman field camera with a 6 by 12 back. I try to use a tripod if at all possible, have just always done it that way. Dont use photoshop, just Capture NX2, Photomatix light, and Elements 7, they do all I need.

I have a marvellous group of contacts on Flickr, that I would rather call freinds, however many miles seperate us, and in whatever continent, people are always the same. Treat them with respect and they will treat you with respect. I have enough contacts at the moment, to be able to have a meaningful and freindly relationship. So please do not be offended if I do not reciprocate with contact requests.

Lastly, I have been absent on Flickr for nearly a year now, something I hope to change in the not too distant future. This has been for personal reasons, and the fact that I have been working on putting together, a decent portfolio for sales at Dreamstime.com. A friendly and efficient stock agency......Hope to contact you all soon.....Bob