A question I get asked every time I meet a new client or tell anybody what I do for a living is this: Why did you choose to become a photographer? It’s a question that I find has many answers, and a question which stirs up something really personal for me. Let me take you back to when I was much younger and tell you all about my story: Why I chose to become a photographer…

I’ve always loved photography and I’ve always loved nature. Right from being a small child, I’d escape from the back garden where I was meant to be playing, and wander off into the woods to go be at one with nature. I’d go look at the birds, the trees and the flowers and soak everything up. I saw the beauty in the ordinary things most people tend to take for granted. I was respectful of nature and would treat it with care. I became such a little Houdini that my Mother had to tie a string around my arm which was in turn attached to the washing line to prevent me from leaving the garden – like reins but with no frills. I didn’t really care, being outdoors was enough for me.

Shooting the scenery at Nostell Priory near Crofton, Wakefield

In 1964 when I was six, I got my first chance to shoot with my parents camera – a Kodak Brownie 127 bakelite. From the first day of getting it in my hands, I’d take photographs of everything. People, flowers, birds…anything that inspired me. I’d well and truly caught the photography bug and I absolutely loved seeing how my photographs developed. Years later, I’d spend hours in our school darkroom developing my own film and carefully planning out my next load of images. As I hit my teenage years, I joined the army and packed myself away along with my faithful compact camera, a an Agfa 110. I used it to photograph each place I visited, making myself a visual journal of images to treasure forever, it was during this time I was able to purchase my first real camera a Fuji ST801 fully manual. With the images taken I knew I’d sit down one day with my own son or daughter and tell them about the places I’d visited and the sights I’d seen, and knew that my photographs would help me remember the details. I also knew that if I never made it back home, my family would have an insight into the kind of life I’d led. My camera ended up getting ruined in the monsoons in Morocco but thankfully, I was able to buy a Canon A1 Pro to replace it (my first electronic camera) and continue to capture my memories along the way. From climbing the Jebel Toubkal and staying with the Berber Tribe, to visiting the Sahara Desert to eventually living in Germany, my trusty camera was always at my side and captured everything.

My Dad looking at my Bronica ETRSi camera back in the 80’s with Sue

It should come as no surprise really that once the 80’s hit, I was putting plans in motion to set up my first every photography business. By the mid 80’s, I’d left the army to marry the love of my life, Sue, and on our wedding day, I gave her a gift in the car on the way to our reception. It was a Canon AF35ML one of the few compacts with a fast F1.9 glass lens. I told her it was for us to make beautiful memories and that one day, I’d set up my own portrait business and make us a steady living.

Our wedding evening reception. The camera I gifted to Sue in my hand, and a surprise birthday cake for me as we got married on my birthday!

Come 1988, we had our one and only baby – a girl! We named her Rachael. With our alternating shifts at both of our current jobs, Sue and I took it in turns to look after the baby, and when I found myself home alone with her, I’d wrap her up and put her in her silver cross pram and take her on long walks with me. We’d take lunch and a drink, binoculars and a camera and we’d go to nature reserves to look at the wildlife and take photographs. Soon after Rachael was born, I started up my first company with the help of Sue. We named it Cherished Memories, because that’s exactly what we were creating, memories that would be cherished.

Snuggled up and ready for one of our wildlife walks with Rachael

To me, photographs have always been special and so significant. They tell a story when words fail you, when your memory can serve you no longer, they bring forward the times you once remembered and loved so well. They allow you to step back in time to a place you once existed, and allow you to relive the days, the people, the sights and even the sounds. They are well and truly priceless.

Today, our business focuses on Boudoir shoots, Headshots, Family Portraits, Makeover Shoots and Newborn Shoots

Fast forward many years and many cameras down the line to the present day. My business is now a collective of everything I love in life – photography and my family. Sue works as our studio co-ordinator, and Rachael, who is now 28, works as our Hair and Makeup artist for our makeover portrait shoots in Barnsley. Our business also underwent a name change to reflect the changes behind the scenes – together, we are Divers Photography. We have been in the business of photography for over 20 years and still to this day, I have a passion for it like no other. I chose photography because I think it’s one of the most amazing gifts I could ever give to anybody. You can’t put a price on something as precious as a memory, and you can never replace a memory once it is lost. But if you have a photograph? Well, that memory will always be with you.