For much of my life I've dabbled in photography, and then some ten years or so ago I joined my local photographic club and began taking it more seriously. I never really got into darkroom work, not having the facilities or the equipment, or the expertise for that matter. Instead, I became one of the club's first to pursue the "digital" route, largely because I had a computer background upon which I could draw. Ten years on, the club is now mostly digital so I suppose I inadvertantly led the change.

I started out with film cameras and scanning negatives, but this never gave me the quality I wanted. My earliest digital camera (Sony DSC-P1) set me back a small fortune, but did produce some remarkably good results. However, it was inevitable I would have to take the plunge eventually and buy a digital SLR, and my choice was the Canon EOS D60. This camera has served me very well indeed and it is only recently that I've felt the need to upgrade to the 20D.

Throughout this time the lenses I use have changed considerably. For a long time I relied upon a Sigma 28-200mm lens I bought before back-packing around New Zealand. It was a great lens for travelling but didn't give the sharpest of images. I have a few consumer Canon and Sigma lenses but now I concentrate on the Canon 'L' series lenses which give extraordinarily sharp results. My pride and joy is the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS but I still lust after the 500mm f4 L IS.

Born in Scotland, I grew up with an interest in wildlife, but it was just too difficult and expensive a subject for me to tackle photographically: that is, until the digital age arrived. I've now begun to photograph mostly birds but in the process have crossed the paths of a few other creatures. It's still difficult to get a good shot but at least with digital images my mistakes don't cost me anything. And believe me, there are hundreds if not thousands of rejects for every decent shot. Film & processing costs would have been horrendous!

Anyway, enough of the chatter, go look at the photographs which, I hope, are a little more interesting...