Well, where to start? Originally from Carlow town in Ireland. About 50 miles from Dublin. I have lived in Belfast, Galway, Limerick, New Jersey, Dublin and now living in Newcastle Upon Tyne with Sinead and our dog Ella.

I have been taking photos since I was a kid in the early '80s, when I had a Kodak Instamatic 110 camera. Well, didn't everyone? This is what they were, for those too young to remember :-) We all loved the colour of the pictures, the negs were impossible to handle, and those great flash cartridges with about ten bulbs. I think we had a Vivitar one too. Then there was a cartridge film 110 also. Must have been a nuisance to process that! Then we gradually moved up to 126 cameras and finally, or eventually, to 35mm.

In my 20s I really got interested in photography, just like my dad and older brother. Between us we have thousands of printed photos - some of them even good ones!! We each have continued to develop our love of photography. My brother and I even converted our attic into a B&W dark room and both enjoyed printing our own. And I loved manual SLR cameras. I still do, and have had my old Konica camera repaired several times.

However, for a few years a while back, perhaps because my beloved SLR kept jamming and was just getting on a bit, I took less photos. In the last few years, though, I've rediscovered my love of photography. Alas, I had to give into the digital world too as I use computers so much.

Favourite photographs?

A few photos that immediately come to mind as eternal favourites of mine would be the following:-

Gare Saint Lazare - Cartier-Bresson

Omaha Beach - Robert Capa

Samuel Beckett in a Paris Cafe - John Minihan

Another Beckett portrait - Jane Bown

John Minihan's collection of photographs of Samuel Beckett are of most interest to me, as Beckett is my favourite author and he is captured so perfectly by Minihan, who actually lives a few miles away from my hometown in Ireland.

A professional photographer friend of mine, Garvan Gallagher, has introduced me to the world of conceptual photography and the photo essay. It's a big world, one which I am constantly exploring. Of course Flickr has made all this possible. Still can't beat walking off the street into a photo gallery though. One of the great pleasures of travel.

Current camera: Canon EOS 450D.