1980, I picked up an old Olympus, there was no one else in the office, the editor had called me up from the basement where I maintained the offset printer and stacked newspapers. I honestly had no knowledge of cameras or photography but even then I knew I could see a good composition. I went out of town a few miles to take a photo of an old man. I pointed the camera in a very dark room and took the photo,

a better photographer would not have taken the shot given the bad lighting and the darkness of the man's skin. I took the shot of the old man sitting on the bed in the midst of his squalor. Quite depressing, but I have taken little since that has surpassed that one photo. I left the paper after a year and went to work in Northern Ireland to do some commercial and school photography. In 1985, I declined an apprentice role to a NASA photographer, instead, I moved to Australia to marry my Australian girlfriend. I worked in newspapers, did weddings and even a few shots behind the scenes of a famous soapie. In late 1986 I left my Nikon FM, F3 and Carl Zeiss lenses on the shelf and took up a ‘serious job' in accordance with my new marital status. 30 years later, after walking around a block a few times I decided to go into a store off George Street, Sydney and buy a Nikon 810 and rediscovered my lost love.

Most precious experience: 1986 Workshop with Lord Snowdon, Sydney

Most conflicting: 1982 School photos near Sandy Row Belfast. Loving kids, killing parents.

Desire: To take that one portrait that is the person, in past, present and future.

Meanwhile: To enjoy photography to the fullest I hope to have the good fortune to come across a moment or two that is a story in a photo and of course I will need to have the ability and presence of mind to see it!