About this site

I built this site to share some of the photographs I've taken. I'm by no means a great photographer, but I love making pictures, and I'm trying hard to improve. Part of my motivation for showing these pictures (flawed though they are), is that people who are better photographers than me might be able to criticise (constructively, I hope!) and help me improve. Please feel free to comment plentifully! My other motivation is just that I like sharing beautiful things with other people.

Hardware and software

All of the pictures here were taken with one of three cameras.

• a Pentax MZ-50 SLR with a 35-80mm Pentax lens, scanned from a print using the scanner in a Canon MP800 printer
• a Nikon Coolpix 885 digital camera
• a Lomo Kompakt Automat (Lomo LC-A)

These days I tend to use Apple's Aperture for cataloguing and manipulating the photographs. The site itself is published using an ExpressionEngine gallery, with a few custom adaptations. It allows you to upload, re-size and thumbnail of your images automatically.

What the heck is that copyright thing at the bottom?

It's a Creative Commons license. Click the icon to view the terms under which the images can be used. I wanted actively to invite people to use my images as long as they are for non-commercial use. Of course, if you want them for commercial use, do get it touch and we can come to some arrangement. I would certainly welcome the money!

Why the name?

It's a line from a song called "Orpheus" by David Sylvian:

Sunlight falls, my wings open wide
There's a beauty here I cannot deny

So that's why. The feather in the banner is because I love feathers and think that they are outstandingly lovely objects.