I have been “the guy with the camera” ever since my Grandfather gave me a German “Exa” Single Lens Reflex camera with a X2 converter and some flash bulbs in my early teens.
It wasn’t until 1987 however, when I was 22, that I started to get paid for it, taking pictures of holidaymakers driving Suzuki Jeeps up mountains and through rivers in the countryside surrounding Benidorm.
When word got out that I could point a camera in the right direction and press the shutter release at the right time, things quickly moved on a pace and I started working with tour operators, photographing hotels, excursions and local points of interest for their brochures.
My first client was a company called Enterprise, but when they realised that I spoke Spanish so didn’t need to be accompanied by a rep, almost all of the UK holiday companies started to get me to photograph for them, as did a number of German, Swiss and Dutch tour operators. Although this was initially in and around the Costa Blanca, I was soon sent to cover all Spanish-speaking destinations in Europe, even working as far a field as the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean.
Tour operator work however has a degree of seasonality to it as brochures were released at certain times of the year, so in the meantime I also worked for several Spanish hotel chains photographing their properties for their own image banks.
While this was all gong on, after a few shots in the local Costa Blanca News and at the recommendation of the editor there, I became the “Stringer” for the British Press in Eastern Spain. The “Stringer” is the person, notionally on the end of a piece of string that can be yanked, who covers a part of the world that is isn’t worth keeping a fully paid member of staff in. This was quite a change from the photos of beaches, bedrooms and buildings that I was used to as it was more likely to be footballers, soap stars and criminals on the run that I was taking photos of.
If the story was big, a footballer trashing a hotel bar for example, I would take the initial pics so the papers had something to run for the early editions, before the staff photographers arrived on the scene. If the story was small or would be running for a few days, shooting a couple of episodes for a popular TV show for example, the chances are that I’d cover it all.
This way, I ended up having my shots published in all of the UK daily newspapers except the Financial Times and the Morning Star. (I even ended up presenting the lead item on GMTV once, but that’s another story…)
Things changed for me in 2002 when I separated from my then partner and, to keep close contact with my small son, I moved back to the UK where she had taken him.
I stayed there, and rather than trying to start building my contacts again from scratch as a photographer, did all sorts of other things including setting up a recycled plastic company and running music festivals.
This carried on until my son was 19 and went to University, at which point my partner and I moved back out to Competa in Eastern Malaga, coming home really.
Now I am returning to the world of imaging once more, both with photography and videography.
My specialisms are still buildings and tourism. This time, however, I am more likely to be photographing private houses, apartments, Airbnbs and boutique accommodation, than the large hotels of before.
The world has changed and I’ve changed with it. Whereas previously I used medium format cameras with very high quality but totally unforgiving transparency film, now I use digital mirrorless cameras, drones and gimbals.
Some things will always stay the same though – you have to know where to point the camera and when to press the button.
If you’d like me to take some photos for you, just get in touch.