Photographs

Gloucester is perhaps not as well-known a place as it should be. It is one of the top ten historic cities in England, but doesn’t get the plaudits for it like York or Chester. It is better-known as a brand for the city’s rugby team, for Single or Double Gloucester Cheese, for the Gloucester Quays outlet centre or the Gloucester...

Canal Boat Lives came from a commission in 2022 from ‘This England’ magazine who asked me for a four-page spread depicting the lives of people living and working on our waterways. I had no idea where to start so I contacted the RBOA Residential Boat Owners Association who were really helpful and they put me in contact with Judy Head...

Funny Side of the Camera One of the most difficult things I’ve found over the years is capturing instant humour, and when it does happen you have to be quick and ready and that’s not always possible. So its not surprising that photographers like myself set up humorous shots or run with the funny side of some of the news...

The Marches Borderlands. The Wild West – well as far as England and Wales was concerned it was. We need to go some way back in history. To 911 where Charles the Simple granted land to a group of ‘Northmen’ which would eventually come to be known as Normandy. Around 150 years later, the leader of the descendents of those...

After I had completed my first book, “County Durham in Photographs”, I was given the opportunity of working on a similar book for Northumberland. Neighbouring County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Scotland, it is a county rich in history and legend. Clearly the book would have to include famous landmarks such as Sycamore Gap, Holy Island, Bamburgh and Hadrian’s Wall...

In 1972, I was asked to go to the Hastings Office of the Department of Environment to do a short course on concrete technology. I had never been to Hastings or St Leonards on Sea so I took the opportunity to have a couple of days there with my wife and son. It was not until 1997, when I began...

We have the power. Richborough in Kent is well-known for a number of reasons. One of these is its link to history and the Roman invasion. A large site of a Roman fort was discovered many years ago and it shows the evidence of underfloor heating along with structures that would have made a significant impact on anyone seeing the...

Saturday 15th July 2017 was a day to remember. Well it would be if only I could remember it. I know I was in bed having not been awake long. Then a thunderclap pain in the back of my head hit. I recall taking two paracetamol and lying down. It was about six weeks later before I was well enough...

To some, County Durham conjures images of either Durham itself or small pit villages, but in reality, County Durham offers so much more. The huge variety of subjects and landscapes became apparent when planning what photographs to take for the book. In fact, I have lived in the North East all of my life and there were locations I had...

This is a short insight into the story behind the publication of my book, John Henry Spree’s Nottinghamshire. I am sure that, in common with many others who have written similar books, I later found postcards that I would have liked to have included in the book so I have taken the opportunity to show some of these here. The...