
Beyond Beauty
This week I have immersed myself in Land Matters by Liz Wells, What Photography is by James Elkins, re read […]
I am a Photographer. As well as taking many photographs I am currently studying for an MA in Photography at Falmouth University. I will direct my attention through the lens of my camera for the next couple of years and see what shows up. I see a photograph as a little bit of magic capturing a moment in time. If successful it surprises and engages your emotions. It tells a story about the wonders of being alive or tells us what we need to change to make it a better world to live in. That is enough for me to get going and then like walking a 1000 miles, which I did across the UK in 2010, or walking 200 miles across Cyprus, which I did in November last year, it is one step at a time.
I was a writer. The title of my unpublished book was ‘You Would Have Done The Same.' It is about a successful guy in love with his wife who lets her die when he discovers her in the process of committing suicide. The title gives a clue as to what I think you would have done. The book is 200 pages long. I found it cathartic to write it but after two years of work and reviewing with agents decided it probably needed another 2000 hours to get the whole book up to the standard of some of the pages. Writing is great but it is a lot of sitting down so I decided to get out and walk, play tennis, play bridge, go birding, watch football at Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Valencia and anywhere else if I can, meditate, cook and eat. I was a writer who has so far failed to become an author.
I was a young man who loved Mathematics and thoroughly enjoyed getting a BSc at Liverpool University. While there I went often to Anfield and the Philharmonic Hall. I was all set on doing a PhD until I went for interview practice at BP and got seduced by the excitement of an International business career. BP was a great adventure building trading teams and businesses in London, Antwerp, Cleveland Ohio and Singapore. Fabulous people and some great challenges and also very hard work, constant jet lag and lots of fun along the way. I married Karen, my stunning wife, and had the most amazing time with her and our three boys Alex, Tom and Dan. She has multiple sclerosis and we have taken on many challenges together but somehow keep creating a new normal against the horrors thrown our way. She is the love of my life.
After BP I decided to coach senior executives and quickly realized I had a lot to learn
about what makes people tick. I had a fantastic 18 months on the International Programme of the Cleveland Gestalt Institute. A great faculty and a
wonderful group of people on the programme. We studied and worked in Dingle, Singapore, Holland, Cape Town and
Lisbon. This also got me interested in the way we think and make decisions so I studied for an MSc in Psychology atUniversity College London in 2010. The
Masters was in Cognitive and Decision Sciences and I found it fascinating what
we do know but also how much we don’t know about how we think and make
decisions.
I loved coaching and making a difference. I got a number of people to hear themselves, remove some of their own chains and free up the way they thought about the world. I remain fascinated by how people react to and engage with the world. My Masters thesis was why do two people given the same information make different decisions? Put simply, it is because each of us are unique in the way we are constructed.
Since returning from Singapore I found English winters tough so moved to Spain where I now live. The people are lovely, the scenery amazing, food delicious and the sun shines all the time. Almost.
All of these experiences will feed in to my time now as a Photographer. Three motivations I am lucky to have are enthusiasm, curiosity and a continuous interest in learning. All the time I look forward to meeting old friends and making new friends and experiencing this wonderful life together.
This week I have immersed myself in Land Matters by Liz Wells, What Photography is by James Elkins, re read […]
Being Alive is made up of sensory, cognitive and emotional experiences. We sense something which then creates thoughts and emotions. […]
To explore where I wish to take my research project it is worth making a critical consideration of my current […]
Looking at Photographs I have considered which images have stuck in my mind over the past 24 hours. A harrowed […]
Lots of thought about what my project is about. Being Alive and the 18 distinctions of experience is too complex, […]
Presentation today by Addie Elliott and Liz Halls on topic. https://www.elliotthalls.com/about Will your work add to the stable of artists […]
I have often considered the question ‘what is a good photograph?’ The work this week suggests an answer is ‘it […]
In the search for meaning of a photograph we consider here the impact of contexts and audience. Change the context […]
Final Submitted Version of the Oral Presentation
The critical reviews today were a revelation. I had my own for my draft oral with Jesse and Cemre this […]
Click on Solitude and Existence for my current draft version of my oral presentation for my project. I have 11 […]
The image on the cover of this piece illustrates an example of chance and serendipity. As my project takes shape, […]
Life is a miracle. We don’t exist. We have a short time on this earth. We cease to exist. We […]
This is such an iterative process but each step seems to be progress. Proposal 1 ties me down to one […]
As Rod Stewart sang ‘Every Picture Tells a Story.’ I have loved takikng pictures since holding my first Instamatic. I […]
Taking photographs and creating images always requires collaboration. There is the camera produced by a manufacturer before you even click […]