I started taking photos of the area I live in, (the Worth & Aire Valley in West Yorkshire), in 1995 with a 35mm point and shoot and moved onto digital photography in 2000.

My passion for photography came out of taking photos for my website that I have run since 1998, which is dedicated to the area where I live.

My first digital camera, bought in 2000 for £150, was a 256kb Jenoptik JD, which had a massive 2Mb memory and a 4Mb memory card. I could take about 32 photos on it and it eat batteries like nothing.

In 2002 I upgraded it to 1.2Mb Jenoptik JD 1.2 (£175), and with a 8Mb internal and a 32Mb external memory, I took more photos for another 2 years.

2004 saw me break the Jenoptik monopoly and with the purchase of a £245 Kodak 4M Pixel camera with a fantastic 10x optical zoom and a 16Mb internal/512Mb external memory.

After 3 years, (2007), and over 3500 photos, I bought a FujiFilm FinePix s9600 10x optical 9M pixel camera for £265, with a 1Gig external XD card. I loved that camera and would recommend it to anyone who does not want to take on a DSLR. When I sold it on eBay in 2009 for £165, I put a note in with it asking the new owners to look after my baby.

I sold my baby to help fund my long time dream, a SONY ALPHA 200 DSLR. I enjoy just looking at it, its design is a work of art and using it is a joy.

Since 2008 I also have a Samsung S860 8M pixel pocket camera with a 2Gig memory card, perfect for carrying around with you at all times, just in case needed.

Am I now a proper photographer??????