I was a keen SLR film photographer back in the 1980's and have piles of 35 mm slides of landscapes, mountains and the family golden retrievers! I was a keen hill walker and mountain runner and combined my love of the mountains with trying to capture what I saw.

I maintained this interest until I suffered chronic back problems in the early 90's and then kids came along in 1998 so my photography became point and shoot family snapshots using cheap film cameras and early digital cameras which of course I deeply treasure.

Then about 8 years ago I decided that I needed to get creative again so I invested in a Canon 7D. With a lot of experience with a Canon EOS 650 in the 80's, using the 7D came naturally but I really loved the ability to really play with settings and get instant feedback.

I then got a nasty disease which David Busch describes as 'lens lust' and started to collect L lenses. More harmful to my bank balance than to my health! In 2012 I decided to go full frame and bought a 5D mark III, a good decision as I love the 5D, especially with my 16-35 lens, my most common landscape combination. Landscapes are my first love in photography but I also find macro and wildlife shots fascinating and am constantly working on my skills in this exciting and rewarding genre. I am fortunate to live in rural Northumberland, UK where I have an abundance of beautiful scenery and wildlife at my doorstep. I have a Canon TS-E 17 mm lens on my wish list, especially now that Lee have developed an adapter so you can used GND filters and big stoppers with it.

My biggest breakthrough in my landscape photos came after I invested in some Lee filters. These have really transformed not only the quality of my work. but also the whole way I approach photography. I spend a lot of time using a laptop with my job so I really do not like lots of post processing so getting it right in camera is always my goal. However, I do some editing, usually with colour balance, cropping, re-touching and sharpening only. I shoot RAW and JPEG and (still) use Apple's Aperture for all my editing. I also have Photoshop Elements 9, but rarely use it.

I have been a Getty contributor for a few years now.

I am very grateful to anyone who visits my photostream and for any comments or favourites. I hope you like my work and it inspires you in some way. I have certainly been inspired by many photographers photostreams on Flickr. There is some excellent work out there.

A cautionary note on copy write.

My images have a high value to me due to the time and effort it took to get the capture. Some of my images are already for sale either through Getty or other agencies and do sell sometimes for quite high value. Therefore you do not have my permission to use them for any reason without first asking. I have recently spotted many of my images on free wallpaper sites and I do not give permission for this. If it requires me to start spreading horrible watermarks across all of my images to stop this, then I will (update: sadly I have had to do this). However, for certain uses, I may give (and have given) permission for free 'limited' use e.g. for charities and trusts.