Hi I'm Michael, I live and work in Leeds, West Yorkshire, I have two grown up children and have been self-employed for the last 30 years. My interest in photography began around 17 years ago when I bought my first digital camera.

In the early days of my photographic journey I began to teach myself photography through reading magazines and using the camera, I also began to teach myself how to use CorelDraw and Photoshop to manipulate my images.

After starting to teach computer programming at a local college in 2002 I was offered the chance to teach a Digital Imaging class, which whilst primarily being about using image manipulation software the people who came also wanted to know how to take better photographs and use their cameras.

This ignited my interest and passion for photography and with the purchase of a Fujifilm FinePix S7000 bridge camera, I then started reading more books and I enlisted the help of the college's photography tutor to quickly master the fundamentals of the camera and photographic techniques. Then in 2007 I decided it was time to formalise my learning and so I enrolled on a level 2 photography course, I upgraded my camera to the Canon 40D and after completing the course in 2008, I began to teach photography.

A year later I enrolled on a 2 year Foundation Degree in Digital Photography at Batley School of Art, which I completed in 2011 and then in 2012 I achieved a BA(Hons) in Photography, during this time I once again upgraded my camera and now I use the Canon 5D MkII.

Alongside the academic qualifications I have achieved in photography I am an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CC and Adobe Certified Instructor in Photoshop CC, I also achieved the professional status of Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills in 2012.

In 2013 I become a qualified member of the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) having been awarded my Licentiateship and I am a member of the Institute for Learning.

I continue to lecture in Photography and Photoshop as well as continuing with my own personal photography projects and commissioned work.