Marcel Proust is quoted as saying: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new sights, but in looking with new eyes…”this is what photography teaches you. To revisit the ordinary or the familiar, and each time to look at it with ‘new eyes’.

> w e l c o m e .

This site presents a collection of views local to where I live, that for many are just ordinary or very familiar. Yet, irrespective of whether they are familiar to you, hopefully you can see them through new eyes. And if they are just the ordinary to you, they demonstrate that even the ordinary can be extra-ordinary – if just for a moment. My style of photography draws inspiration from the romantic and impressionist eras of painters. Not the overly crafted perfectionism of Instagram, but the unruliness of Turner or Monet. More akin to the smear of watercolours and the impressionism of Gabriel Loppé than hyper-realism of fine acrylics.

If you are viewing this site on a mobile, please don’t. My images need at least an iPad Mini screen to be appreciated – even if you don’t like them.

> u r n e r – a l p e n .

Uri is where I live and where I call home. It is a Kanton of various landscapes and weathers, that sculpt its character, and paint an ever-changing picture, be that through the gradual change of the seasons or the passing weather patterns. The below images present snap-shots of this variety, from the blankets of snow to to colourful skies to the oldest Urner, the Föhn, battering the Reusstal reeds.

> b l a c k . & . w h i t e .

Black & white has transcended the history of photography from film through digital. It still has a unique chiaroscuro style that talks only of light, shade and textures. Mountains are great subject for B&W images, be it the contrasts of snow and rock, or stone and cloud, patterns of nature set against smooth inky black skies. The early works of Vittorio Sella are fine examples of an art that has changed little in 100 year, whilst the technique, has been revolutionary.

> z u g e r l a n d .

Kanton Zug was where we used to call home. It is the opposite of Uri, a Kanton of mists and mellow fruitfulness. The natural colours of blend and smear with what feels like constant autumnal fogs over the lake and shorelines. In winter the trees and reeds become fine silhouettes, contrasting against the hazy backdrops especially at sunrise or set. The Mondrianesque lines of the grasses, paths and trees in the Reusstal form simple compositions with amazingly colourful backdrop – sunsets that cannot be bettered.

> m o u n t a i n . v i e w s .

Despite growing up by, on and in the sea, I have always been fascinated by mountains and the stories of the heroes who set off to climb them, ignorant of the dangers or effort needed. As a child in 1972, and my first visit here, I remember nearly wetting myself with excitement at seeing the Eiger Mönch and Jungfrau for the first time and being able to walk into the Rhone Glacier directly from the Furkapass. This excitement has not left me, it has not become ordinary nor familiar, I still have great respect for these harsh landscapes; where, like the sea, man is tolerated as a visitor, not welcomed as a resident.

> w i n t e r . b l o o m s .

It is not necessary to travel to the ends of the world to obtain interesting images, your own back garden or balcony will do. Here are examples of some fabulous plants in their Winter state, in my own backyard. Rarely do we get this up close and personal with plants; using a macro lens in windy and poor lighting conditions allows you to see the beautiful details of these plants, and explore the random chance that a very short focal length and their continual movement brings. These two factors give an abstraction to the images that contrasts with the sharp outlines of the dead flowers in focus. Much closer to how we really experience the flowers, as our eyes flit from one to the other as the wind moves all around.

> n o . m o r e . g l a c i e r s .

Let’s not kid ourselves, the glacier globally are disappearing at an alarming rate and they are NOT coming back. All the efforts we put into reducing carbon emissions only slow their inevitable demise. In my own short lifetime, I have seen the Rhone Glacier lose hundreds of meters of vertical ice. If you have kids of Gen-Alpha age, the glaciers will be gone in their lifetimes, as the rate of loss is accelerating. This is beyond tragic. The bottom image here is the saddest image I have ever taken; it exemplifies our ridiculous attitude towards glacial loss. In 1972 I visited the Rhone Glacier ice-grotto with my parents. The tunnel was at the level I am sitting taking the photo. Now the ‘grotto’ is under a white reflective ‘shroud’, covering the dead ice; the actual glacier is across the lake, 100m away. The helicopter transports away the material, hanging like dead cows removed from the scene of a tragedy. I am so pleased to be 60 and not 6.

m y . p h o t o g r a p h y . b i o .

I am a product of photography; my parents met because my dad had a summer job as a photographer on the promenade in Torquay, in the 1950s. He took B&W pictures of tourists and they bought them if they liked them – he took A LOT of pictures of my mother…the rest is history. Dad was a Leica fan, nothing would convince him otherwise. He taught me the basics of focus, depth of field, film speed, composition, etc.

School – an imposition on my freedom, I hated it. But I was really good at art, enough said.

Art School – in my element, loved it. Also expanded my formal skills with B&W photography taking, developing and printing images.

Dartington – as one of ‘Devon’s exceptionally visually gifted children’, I could also attend long summer-schools at the private art school in Dartington College of Art and study with the tutors there. Bliss!

School of Architecture – I was exotic as I came from Art School, not from the usual school sixth-forms, but qualified after the obligatory 8 years. Continued my love of taking pictures of the built environment, on slides and in B&W.

Hobbyist – I basically spend my life seeing imagery that would make a good photo. A lot of my free time I have a camera in my hand. I am very lucky to live in Uri, and combine my love of hiking, camping and seeking out new photo opportunities, putting into practice all I have learnt from the above.