David Thomas

I have been taking photographs since I was about 8, which is over forty years ago. I really did start with an old Box Brownie, before saving up enough to buy the latest Kodak Instamatic. When I was about 12, an understanding auntie pressed her Leica into my hands and told me to get on with it.

My interest spiralled, and the Instamatic didn't get much more use. I taught myself to develop and print in a rather dodgy school darkroom, before graduating to better facilities at college and at home, where print-washing meant that bath was out of action for a while. I always got a thrill out of watching a print appearing in the developer tray, and rather miss that aspect of photography in the digital age.

It took me a while to be convinced by digital photography, but now I've realised that you really can produce very high quality prints, I'm much happier with it, and the ability to share pictures via the internet is just astounding. I still miss Kodachrome though!

I'm an amateur although I do not see that negatively, I do it because I love it. I am largely self-taught, although I've been on many courses and have never stopped learning. I really enjoy travel photography and in particular, landscape and I am keenly aware that comosition is foremost in making interesting and arresting images.

Travel highlights have been: Argentina, Australia, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Greenland, Iceland (5 times!), Japan, Jordan, Kamchatka, Laos, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (also 5 times!), Namibia, Vietnam, the USA. I never get tired of taking pictures around Oxford though. I plan to have a Travel Photography course ready in 2011.