Thank you for stopping by my page, allow me to tell you who I am.
My name is David Airey, I am based in Chorley, in Lancashire where I live with my wife Joanne. We have two daughters who have now flown the nest and making their own way in life.
I read many photographers “about me” pages to see what makes them inspired and driven, most talk about their passion for photography and how they strive for the perfect image and that wow shot that will set them out from the masses. So what do I strive for, well let me elaborate more about how my photography has evolved in my life.
As a child I was given a Kodak Instamatic camera, its right there in the picture of me when I was 13. I had so much fun with that camera and my 110-film camera taking pictures of everything and anything, I was hooked. A twin lens reflex camera from Russia came along next, my Lubitel 2 camera, using larger C120 film and the waist level viewfinder I learned quickly about composition and balance in my images, F stops, shutter speeds and ISO all came next. A grounding into the basics of light, exposure and focus range, oh what a blessing that camera was, which I still have today.
Of course, in those days you had to patiently wait for your Supersnaps prints to drop through the door, the cost of C41 process was so expensive that monochrome was the future. I was lucky to have a darkroom in our attic where I would patiently count elephants for the perfect exposure. My photography progressed through to 35mm, shooting with Rollei, Pentax, Yashica and Minolta SLRs learning the craft of manual exposure.
Teenage years brought Motor bikes, fishing and girls, but I always had a camera of some sort with me to capture what was going on around me with images of holidays and events, playing with filters but always having the desire to record life and the people around me.
Life progressed and I met my wonderful wife Joanne, I was always taking images of holidays and the fantastic memories we have with our children and their upbringing, precious moments that are captured in print forever.
In 2007 my desire to set my talents to work was reignited, through a bereavement I acquired an Olympus E330 digital camera, a quality piece of equipment with a four thirds sensor and Zeiss glass I was hooked again. A long think about systems and some hard saving I started my journey into the world of digital photography with Canon chosen as my platform.
Along came a few weddings for friends, who let me shoot for them for their images, a great grounding. But as those that know me will tell you I want to deliver the best, it was time to invest in training. Having been an apprentice in a craft trade in my early years I was only to mindful that professionals need to train you if you want to improve. I have been trained by some of the leading names in the industry today, priceless if you want to learn the craft of photography. Stripping back to basics and learning how to build your images has been a god send to me.
So, what is my passion, using my photography to make a connection with my subject, capturing emotion, a moment, a life event or quite simply anything that stirs a memory or a happy feeling.
If I as a photographer can convey all or some of that, then I have done my job, that’s what drives me, to bring emotion, joy and memories through my images.
Please take a look at my images, these are just a small sample of what I have captured.
Thank you for reading.
David