About the Artist

photographing the natural world

I describe myself as an artist who takes photographs of the natural world and I see my images as fine art. Nature for me is the spirit of life and I am truly inspired by it. It is its power to amaze that draws me in so close: I'm interested in capturing the 'little' wonders it presents. Much of my work, as a consequence, involves using macro lenses. It feels important to me to capture detail, I am a detailed person. Presenting what is unique, or indeed familiar, from a slightly different perspective is my aim, be it a twisted petal, or a balancing insect.

My particular passion is plants, especially wild and medicinal ones , which are the source of nature's remedies and magical mythical tales. Being surrounded by nature is the main reason I choose to live in Suffolk.

Awards

NATURE & Garden Photography

Awards and Winning images from the ‘International Garden Photographer of the Year’ Awards, the ‘Garden Media Guild Photographer of the Year’ Awards, the Royal Horticultural Society and more.

The detail of Nature

commercial use of my photography

My images appear in international and national newspapers and magazines, calendars, cards and books and are also used in design and advertising, e.g. Financial Times, Country Life, Waitrose Magazine, Octopus Publishing, The Garden. I exhibit my work nationally and internationally, e.g. The Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, The New York Botanical Garden, The Gallery Mayfair, Royal West Academy.

A bit further back

LIFE BEFORE PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography is my second career or perhaps a therapeutic antidote to the first. I have worked in the field of Education for most of my life and the greatest struggle within this arena continues to be the huge "inequality" of both opportunity and outcome for the millions of children living in poverty in England. Poverty and underachievement was the focus of my PhD, and my second book i "Failing Working-Class Girls", 2000, published by Trentham. (It is biographical and autobiographical.)

One of my very earliest job references stated, "may be somewhat of a rolling stone", this was very observant. Whilst staying mainly within education and seeing it as a key to the way out of poverty, I worked as a University MA tutor and Equal Opportunities Training & Development Officer, a Senior LEA Adviser, an Ofsted Inspector, a Truancy & Disaffection Project Co-ordinator, a Senior post doctoral Researcher at the National College of School Leadership (nlg) and then, I trained as a Corporate Business Image Consultant. Amid these roles and needing a different kind of challenge, I flew off to work for the Minister of Education in Oman in the Arabian Gulf. For two and a half years, I worked on the setting up of a national system of School Evaluation. On my return, I wrote an academic paper describing my experience, Beyond the doorstep: Arabian (k)nights and personal nightmares: a working life in Oman, Changing English Vol. 12, University of London Institute of Education, April 2005. I have also worked briefly in Qatar and Benghazi, Libya.

It was whilst I was living and working in Oman that, I started writing illustrated, feature articles using my photographic images. I love to travel and experience other cultures., e.g. Uganda, Madagascar, Costa Rica. Published author, academic and commercial writer.