From an early age, I had a real passion for the water and in particular sailing, spending the summer holidays with Gran at her pretty flint cottage in the village of Blakeney on the North Norfolk coast. In 1982 at the age of 18, I entered the Falmouth to Lisbon Tall Ships Race. My Uncle Brian lent me his Canon AE-1 and 50mm lens - I photographed everything, boats, sails, crew, skies, sea and dolphin.

On my return to England I had the films developed at the local chemist, the resulting images far exceeded my expectations and unbeknown to me, Gran entered some of the shots in a newspaper competition. The first I knew of this, a phone call from the Editor congratulating me on the winning photos - my passion for photography began!