Website News Aug 18

I was born and grew up in Buckinghamshire, a land of chalk hills and beech woods, picturesque villages and windmills. I regularly walked the landscape and wherever I went my cameras went too. Over the years my image collection grew and grew, and I eventually held a couple of exhibitions.

Then in 2003 I moved away at about the time when the digital revoloution was taking hold. Digital is so easy. You can see the results instantly and re-shoot at different settings if necessary. You can change sensitivity for each individual image rather than being stuck with the same film speed for 36 shots. You don't have to wait a week for the film to be processed and, of course, you can take as many shots as you like at no extra cost.

So, digital took over and my Chilterns transparencies became a memory. But not any more. I have spent months cleaning, scanning, enhancing and processing to bring them back to life in this website. The quality may not be up to modern digital standards, but hopefully the content still has sufficient allure to hold the viewers interest. It's been a mammoth task and is still ongoing, so enjoy the images that are already on the site and look forward to more in the not too distant future.

The Chiltern Hills are famous for their beech woodland which is why many furniture makers were based in the area. Trees, of course, look their best in autumn and never more so than in the area of woodland known as Burnham Beeches. The image above, however, was taken in Whiteleaf Woods on the edge of the Chiltern escarpment, when the colours were at their peak.

The Grand Union Canal also passes through the area and its towpaths make excellent trails for walking, and for photography too. The locks and lock houses can be very photogenic, as in the image to the left, taken on a tranquil, balmy summers evening.