‘I found I could say things with colours that I couldn’t say in any other way –things that I had no words for.’ – Georgia O’Keefe

I have been taking photographs since my early teens, but like many budding photographers, who didn’t have access to a darkroom, funding the printing was always difficult. There is no doubt that digital technology has revolutionised the photography world. It is now accessible to all, and although I welcome that progress, it has in my view, brought with it a debilitating sense of uniformity. It seemed to me, that all the best photographs of landscapes, wildlife and portraits, had all been taken several times over. Furthermore, the generally accepted wisdom about how technically correct a photograph should look, began to appeal to me less and less. In the words of Picasso, it is important to: ‘Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.’

I have always seen myself as an artist who uses a camera rather than as a photographer, so I began searching for inspiration. Meeting several creative photographers was the start of my journey into a different approach. At 90 years of age the late Harry Cundell, an Arena Group member for many years, was still experimenting and creating some wonderfully different images. He encouraged me to imagine rather than merely record. He quickly became my mentor and without his encouragement I wouldn’t have been brave enough to follow a path less travelled, for as Matisse recognised, ‘Creativity takes courage.’