I was born in Scotland in 1941. I received my education at the London Film School and the University of Newcastle. I worked for  photographic companies in a purely technical capacity. I have never practised photography for a  living. In my late 30s I changed my profession completely “ I became engaged in the provision of mental health care. That was my employment until I retired. Afterwards I worked for a charitable organisation involved in the education of individuals with mental health problems. I now live in the Northeast of England.

I took up photography in my late teens. I was immediately drawn to the photography of people. I suppose I wanted to photograph individuals in a truthful way,  hoping to reveal something of their essential characters.I was accustomed to observing the behaviour and emotions of people in everyday situations. I was fortunate that people did not seem to resent my attention “ perhaps they  felt at ease in my presence The practice of 'street photography' requires a certain amount of nerve and much tact. The abelity to 'fade into the background' and not atracti attention to oneself is useful in the quest for spontaneity.

If I supply the following technical information it is not because I personally feel it is important, but because it might answer the questions of some of your membership .I started out with 35mm film and my second camera was a pre-war Leica IIIb, with a 50mm Summitar lens. Although later I used a 6x6 camera (Mamiya C3) for much of my photography I always stayed faithful to 35mm. In the early 1970s I regularly used a Leica M3 which I was able to borrow from my employers. At an early date, after some tests, I decided to settle on Ilford FP3 and Kodak Tri-X  and my developers were Paterson Acutol and Rodinal (for Tri-X). After that I never bothered to try any other film/developer combinations.  I wanted simplicity and predictability in the technical field, anything else was a distraction  in the process of gathering images.

The images here were taken between 1960 and 1972. Occasionally people see aspects of Arbus, Winograd and Doisneau in some of my work but the strange thing is I did not know anything about these photographers until the mid-Seventies when most of the images here had been committed to film. In my youth I had encountered the work of Paul Strand and I was full of admiration for what he had achieved. At that time my other icons were Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. Perhaps the black and white cinema was the greatest, albeit unconscious, influence on my work. I was a film addict well before my teens and I came to admire the visual style of these classic films.

I am very impressed by the great interest shown in photography in Turkey today. It is good to see several young photographers producing some wonderful images. I am delighted and honoured that you have chosen my work as the subject of one of your magazine articles.

Some of my images have been published recently in 'The Ava Guide to Outdoor Photography'. There will be an exhibition of my photography in Newcastle upon Tyne later this year. Please note: I am working on a personal web-site but it is not complete. Your readers are welcome to approach me at my email address if they wish.

Best wishes, David