My ethos

Visitors to this site often ask me "to what extent are your images digitally enhanced". This question has a 3 step answer:

(i)    The strong colours in my images are produced in camera, not at the PC. 

(ii)    When deciding whether to use the computer to manipulate an image I tend to ask myself whether I could achieve substantially the same effect in the darkroom.  I believe in limiting my use of the cloning tools.   Generally I use these to take out processing marks, rarely poles, telephone wires and jet contrails (all this air travel is a bloody liability for photographers).  I never add elements to my images.

(iii)    I never, ever, build composite night images (you can tell this is something I am touchy about!).   If you see an image of trees or buildings in front of stars on my site then you can be sure the scene actually existed and was recorded on one piece of film or with one digital capture.  I do not cut out objects from one photo and paste them into another image, even though I am technically able to do this:

This approach to digital imaging is simply my personal creative identity, and I do not believe other photographers should necessarily feel similarly constrained. In my professional life I am fortunate to work with many talented designers who take digital manipulation to its logical extremes. I admire and fully support such people, but for my own personal work I am a photographer, not a digital painter.  My aim is to be truthful to the spirit of the individual location - and this limits the role of digital manipulation for me.   That is my choice.