tombeardshaw's photostream  

I love photography... first shot with a box brownie... of my dad, looming over me like a giant. Learnt on Nikon film SLRs at school and uni (club) and worked for a while as an assistant pro doing still life with large format film cameras... I once spent a day photographing a Stilton.

I've given up on SLRs - too bulky for me.. and instantly mark you out as 'the photographer' - I just never take them out, so they're useless. The mirror plane makes them noisy and shakes the camera below 1/125s. Good for learning and understanding how photography works, but they don't work for the kind of shots I like to make.

I'd rather get on with life and not feel I'm on a photo shoot, but always have a camera handy to capture a moment if one appears. A camera discreet and quiet enough so it doesn't steal attention away from what's happening. I lived and worked in South Africa in the early 90's and took an old film Oly Pen with me. Smaller and quieter meant closer and more intimate, although the quality wasn't quite up to the SLRs.

I fell for Leica cameras - perfect for capturing people naturally and the lenses are amazing. I first got a D-Lux 3, played with that for a bit then lost it the day before I went to Havana to shoot. When I came back they launched the X1... I had to wait six months for it, but that's what I use now. I've just added a Digilux 2. One day I'll own an M9. Oh yes.

I like to keep my camera on me at all times in case I can capture moments where something's happening... and try to create an image that tells the story. I just take photos of stuff I see and think 'that's cool'. I take lots of crap pics that will never see the light of day :)

I'm just starting to do more work with theatre and set photography, and am very interested in fashion, so would love to get collaborating with a creative team.

If you've any response to my photos, please comment and favourite - I'm always looking to improve my work, so any constructive feedback is always really welcome. I'm doing a course at the moment too.