Cards on the table, I've been around a bit ...

 

Early in my career, it became clear that I was far better suited to life behind the camera than in front of it, and so far, no one has yet to disagree with that.

 

As the 80s rolled over into the 90s, I wangled myself a job as a cameraman and VT editor at an independent television facility in Westminster. Of course, I’d been shooting and editing for a while, just not with the big boys.

 

After a couple of years I joined Sky News in Osterley, from where I was sent on multiple assignments to cover the Bosnian conflict and Nelson Mandela’s triumphant election in South Africa.

 

The Associated Press (AP), the world’s largest news agency, was launching its television arm, and on my return from South Africa, they offered me the position of Production Director. A large part of that role saw me training the next generation of multi-skilled operators in news camera and VT editing techniques.

 

By 1997, I was itching to get back out on the road, so I returned to a camera/editing role with AP transferring me to Paris. Five months into the role, and at the end of August, Princess Diana’s car crashed in the Pont d’Alma tunnel. I was on the scene within an hour.

 

The following year, the FIFA World Cup circus rolled into town, and as the millennium approached, CNN sent me to cover the Kosovo conflict. In 2005, the BBC pushed me out into the Atlantic to look for Ellen MacArthur (now Dame Ellen) as she completed her record-breaking solo circumnavigation - a seafaring adventure I haven’t repeated since.

 

Over the next decade, I travelled across Europe, working with some of the most respected broadcasters, shooting and editing headline news stories for BBC News, BBC World, and items for flagship programmes like Newsnight and Panorama.

 

Eventually, I stepped sideways into news and editorial stills photography. Represented by NTI (UK), World Picture News (NY), and Paris-based agency Le Desk, I worked on commissions for anglophone publications while covering breaking news and current affairs in and around the French capital.

 

Balancing television and photography, I was invited by the École Supérieure de Journalisme to lecture on television news production. It was an opportunity I eagerly embraced, guiding students through practical techniques to prepare them for real-world assignments.

 

After nearly 20 years of living and working in France, I returned to the UK, where I continue to pursue news and editorial photography with the same passion and dedication.