Impulsion
To know ahead of time what you're looking to photograph risks only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting. Impulsion is a distinct gallery where those pictures that caught my eye - and just photographed 'that to which I instinctively responded', are displayed. I like to think that they're proof that some exposures shape themselves.
AUTUMN - 10.2008
Autumn colours become the thing of dreams and memories. Swathes of woodland dressed in autumn colours are the usual image we have. In contrast to convention how effortless this single tree conforms to seasonal demands. Its isolation seems a privilege, or is it not alone the cropping deceiving the spectators?
WOOD STANWAY, GLOUCESTERSHIRE - 05.2009
At Lower Coscombe to Stumps Cross the hill climbs steeply. A rider gathers a reticent horse, returning downhill with the animal resisting progress. It's 10.22 on a cloudy Bank Holiday and rain looks promising, and I capture the moment. Then drink coffee carried in my pack and continue my walk.
FROZEN CONTOURS - 02.2009
The sun shone brightly on a cold February morning. An impetuous walk along a swollen river Avon, Worcestershire provided an opportunity to experience crisp, chilly air and listen to geese far across the flooded fields. Puddles lay between tractor tracks their frozen surfaces shining in the sunlight, and occasional footsteps pierced nature's glass the sound of cracking breaking winter's silence.
PILADE OUT - 02.2009
Discovering these stacked plastic horticultural trays some marked with ownership seemed to mimic human life and frailties, architectural calamities, and economic recession. A disused, dilapidated, overgrown wasteland resembling an abandoned city neigbourhood. Once functional and useful, now unused and discarded. Scrapped, dumped in this disposable age. Tomorrow's another day. 
RIVERSIDE GRAVEYARD - 02.2009
The ravages of time always seem to bring out the melancholy in me. Once the pride of the farm, but now a gutted, rusting old workhorse this tractor is no longer loved and admired. 
BERKELEY FAMILY BIBLE - BERKELEY CASTLE - 10.2008
My eyes were drawn to the tied bow round the bible of the Berkely family. The castle, an ancient fortress home has been lived in by the same family for over 900 years and its rich heritage is part of English history. Displayed in the 'Morning Room', once a chapel, it is probably rarely photographed amongst a host of other antiquities and architectural curiosities.
WHITE STOCKINGS - 11.2008
A pastiche of a Jack Vettriano print was the idea I had while photographing a 1940's fashion shoot at Stanway House, Gloucestershire in the autumn of 2008. Between sessions with two pairs of models, I managed to capture the ideal pose with one of the models. The prominence of leg, stockings and shoes is the essential point. The anonymous, cropped face creates a voyeuristic feel, the spectator's eye travels round the entire picture seeking some evidence of the figure, but she remains an unknown woman.
ENVELOPE OF HOT AIR FLOATING OVER WORCESTERSHIRE - 05.2009
My work done I stand hands on hips looking at the hill. Children in a field pull kites behing them, running as if point-to-pointing. When the the roar of rushing gas sounds above us the kites fall to the ground, colourful shattering bundles like shot pheasants. Their chargers stand peering skyward. Smiles erupt on little faces at the large balloon almost hovering above them. They shout. They wave. Another burst of flame. Two passengers wave from the basket. The children shout, "Hello". It floats slowly away, to land a few fields away.
CUCUMIS MELO - 06.2009
Planetary bodies are spectacular to view when it's accepted that to capture the image some pretty serious kit has to be employed. So it was with delight that I announced to a group of friends that I had achieved a result by photographing one of Jupiter's satellites, Galia with a telescope owned by a local college. All but two friends believed me...
WOODCHESTER SNAX - 06.2009
The realisation that all roads don't always lead to Rome leapt into my head when I formulated a reportage project: A46 Roadside Cafes. This arterial road is donkey's years old, some, if not most, must date to the Romans anyway. Until I'd studied a road atlas did I know it's route and destinations. Amazingly it runs between Bath and Grimsby. One town clearly established by the Ancient Romans, the other a fishing port. Paul and Sharron Holt are owners of the Woodchester Snax cafe in a glorious wood covered layby, twenty miles north of Bath. It is in fact the last southernmost layby eaterie on the A46. Paul and Sharron are a great couple and have owned the business for fifteen years. Highly recommended!
EFFERVESCENCE - 08.2009
Effervescence, what a great word. When I reached for a can of dry ginger I never gave the word a thought. It was only after the tab was pulled and the gas escaped did I see the boiling up of the liquid; the hiss and froth bubbling into the light from the depths of the can. For a second or more the lively, vivacious release seemed to generate vivid images. A face appeared in the bubbly fizzle. Yes it was there, prying eyes gazing up at me. Or was it my imagination?
MOVING TARGET - 08.2009
The sun shone. People, families and children filled the park. A glorious colourful fun fair had been set up but no one had ventured into its attractions. Ghostlike it dominated one corner of the expanse of grass. Other activities occupied everyone's attention and the prospect of new sport seemed inevitable.
BUT IT'S ONLY A MILK BOTTLE ... - 12.2009
Funny isn't it. You go to the fridge yank out a litre bottle of milk (plastic naturally), use, and consign what's become today a cheap food, to its place in the door shelf. Do any of us consider the carbon footprint and the effect on global warming - no. Well I'm not going to either. I think we're all getting a little too much carbon-lunacy thrust at us. What I did the other day was to finish the contents and proceeded to pulverise the container. Twisting it like a piece of old rag it fell from my grasp landing on the floor at my feet. Instantly I grabbed my camera and 'click' it was recorded. It has now become a celeb, because after uploading it to my favourite photographic stock site it has been used over and over again, bought as a print, and now saved by a mad collector in the US. It only goes to show anything, especially the things you never think of, can become an iconic image - and you'll never understand why... 
HIDDEN ROMAN MOSAIC - WINCHCOMBE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND. - 01/2010
We decided to walk the Cotswold hills around Winchcombe on the gloriously sunny, cold new year day 1st of January 2010. A hard frost covered the ground and trees, demanding further investigation; we donned our boots and winter gear and set out. Our walk aimed at finding the Roman villa in Spoonley Wood and our objective was reached after a rest alongside a stream to drink hot coffee. Under a simple cover we exposed a magnificent mosaic, dirty from years of neglect yet still retaining its magnificent quality and beauty. The villa remains are the largest in the neighbourhood. It's one that ranks among the most important Roman houses in England; its large granary measures 54x34 feet and is constructed like a church with naves and aisles, called a 'courtyard villa' it was probably built in the 2nd century and continued to the 4th century; Spoonley Wood villa is often cited as the classic example of this type of building as it was the first to be discovered, being excavated in the late-1880's. Mentioned in Bill Bryson’s Notes From a Small Island. “On a hill above Winchcombe, you see, there is a little-visited site so singular and wonderful that I hesitate even to mention it.” Hesitatingly however, I do commend the site for a visit.
WAYPOST FOR TRAVELLERS - 01/2010
The Teddington Hands signpost, dated 1676 which stands by the side of the main Cheltenham to Evesham road, A435 near the Teddington Hands roundabout is close to the Tibblestone monolith, a stone column dating from the prehistoric times. The juxtaposition of both cannot be a coincidence. Man, ancient, past and present have used this route for milleniar and I guess will do so for many more.
ROSIE LEE - 02/2010
The wonderful reflective properties of stainless steel has captured the moment when a lady and tea are to become united. I'm amused by Cockney rhyming slang hence the title, 'Rosie Lee'. In this vein you may not Adam and Eve it when your Mince Pies don't see how the photograph was taken. There she is, her Boat Race facing the teapot, hand outstretched, but Butcher's Hook again and I dare say you'll not see a camera. 
SHAMELESS WASTE - 03/2010
Today's habitual and anti-social process of dropping litter has serious result on the environment. In my opinion most people are not doing enough to halt the continuing habit to just discard rubbish not in a bin but just where they stand. This threepence deposit-worth bottle top did little to influence the owner to return the bottle and top way back in about 1970 or earlier. The inducement from manufacturers stopped hastened no doubt from nobody interested in a perfectly worthy process - we're all paying for it now.
