My first experience with a camera was not exactly encouraging- when I was a small kid I stood on the glass plate of an old camera trying to get at something carefully placed out of my reach, put my foot right through it and wound up in hospital getting stitches. I still have the scar! My first serious experiences with photography were on family holidays, when I basically took over my Mum's camera and started shooting landscapes and views. Even then I was a perfectionist and I was never really happy with the quality of cheap print films. Going to slides was a total revelation to me.

After some fast talking to my parents, I got a Pentax P30 of my very own, just before going to college. I shot loads of slides to use as "backdrops" for storytelling and roleplaying games played at college. But I was never quite satisfied with the quality of the results (and how much my wife must HATE me going on and on about lack of biting sharpness!) I studied Physics at University, which might seem only of distant relevance... but in studying physics, you have to learn all about electromagnetism, light and the behavior of physical instruments... like cameras. The acquisition of a new camera didn't really solve this particular bugbear, and I was getting increasingly irritated by not being able to capture the spectacular views that my increasing interest in mountaineering was leading me to see.

The real step up in my photography came with the acquisition of a Canon camera with a really decent lens on the front. I've been a faithful Canon user ever since. I did a Ph.D. in Particle Physics, and for almost a decade after was a professional scientist working my way up towards a permanent lectureship. A spell in Geneva resulted in a stack of stunning slides of the alps, and my medieval re-enactment hobby led me to take some photos of friends in their impressive armour and garb. While we were stuck out with not much money (not even a telly!) I started to draw portraits from the photos.

It was this little project that eventually got me to turn pro as a photographer. I have always loved pictures of beautiful women, and eventually I decided to hire a professional model to pose for photos for me so I could draw from them. But somehow I just found the camera a more natural medium than pencil and paper. As time went on I was more and more able to get the effects I wanted from the photographs, without drawing anything!

One of the things I was most interested in was playful, kinky, mild fetish images. I wanted to shoot more, but pro models need to be paid, and I needed some way of covering the costs of shoots and equipment. So I started a website, RestrainedElegance.com, with the idea of making a bit of beer money. I was a little surprised when the website beat the income from my lectureship. I was very surprised when it doubled it. Suddenly, models were contacting me offering me free shoots if they got material for their websites. My number one superstar model and good friend Jasmine Sinclair wanted me to take the photos and run her site (which is HUGE fun to do!). Suddenly, my hobby was my career. Since I was thoroughly hacked off with the lectureship (too many jobs you are expected to do, and you never get time to do more than a passingly good job of any of them), I took the plunge and went full time as a photographer. Haven't regretted it yet!

Since the bulk of my commercial work is targeted at the web, my workhorse camera is a Canon D60 6 megapixel digital camera. However, other formats are available should your project require it.