I’ve been a professional photographer since 2005, constantly developing my craft and refining my style. I always knew that having a job you enjoy is one of the most valuable things in life, it’s not work if you love it!
I spent nine years commuting to Norwich every day to work in an I.T. job – works for some people but not me. I need to have a creative outlet: the photography and filmmaking totally satisfies my craving for creativity, flexibility and freedom from the rat race.
I was born & bred in Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast and absolutely love this area. After ten years at Gresham’s School in Holt I spent three years at the University of Hull reading Marine Biology (well, technically it was called Coastal, Estuarine & Wetland Biology but Marine Biology sounds cooler although still not hugely useful for a photographer), spent a year travelling & diving in Australia, ran a pub for 18 months and had a year in the USA, living & working in New York & Virginia.
I saw some stunning places on my travels (living on Hamilton Island and Lindeman Island in the Whitsundays, Queensland for 6 months was a highlight). My first ever paid photograph was taken in the Whitsundays – while on a humpback whale watching trip I got some shots of a curious whale coming right up to our boat, literally about 6 feet away. When I took the film to get it processed at the shop in Airlie beach that evening they asked if they could give me a few dollars to have one of the shots turned into a postcard to sell. I was stoked and maybe the seed to one day become a professional photographer one was planted right there.
I have two children, Charlotte & Will, who enjoy life by the beach as much as I did as a kid. Whenever I can I grab a camera & get out along the coast with my partner Leanne or take our boat out to Blakeney Point to see the seals, do a spot of mackerel fishing or collect samphire. I love being on the water, so much so that I’ve been RNLI crew on Sheringham Lifeboat since 2000.
In recent years (since 2015) I’ve added filmmaking to the services I can provide. The drones got me into making videos and I’ve really enjoyed the learning process of the discipline of filmmaking – a much slower process but it really interests me how you can create a real mix of emotions with carefully chosen camera angles, music & ambient sounds.
Examples of my short films can be seen on my vimeo page here.
So that’s a bit about me and what I do, well done if you are still reading!
All the best,
Chris.