About

I was born in my parents' house in Larbert, Stirlingshire, in 1956. This makes me Scottish.

I discovered hills in my early teens, and simultaneously with photography. At school we had a hillwalking club that went out in all weathers and climbed whatever took Ken Oakley's fancy, he being the Physics teacher who gave his spare time to take us out there.

Most of my early efforts failed because of lousy, failure-prone equipment that I could not afford to replace. But I loved it and pored over my meagre results passionately, remembering the wind on our faces and the rain on our backs, the fatigue and the joy.

I used Olympus equipment for most of my life, through the OM system film cameras and later, E-series FourThirds equipment. I loved my OMs. Had Olympus gone straight to the MicroFourThirds system, I might still be using Olympus gear.

But I now use Canon. At this stage of my life I needed to change, it is probably the last system I'll use. I lost confidence that Olympus, as a company, would serve my needs. Canons are large, and heavy. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.