My Early Years

Color photography was invented way before I was born, but when I was a child most people were still taking black and white pictures of family and other activities. Perhaps it was because with very minimal equipment and facilities one could both develop the film and print pictures.

I was fortunate that I had access to a home darkroom that doubled as a minute storage room. My resourceful father had built his own enlarger using a discarded lens, a metal canister from the local confectionery store and a light bulb. So, up until my late teens I was able to process my own pictures, including learning how to dodge and burn.

Then I acquired my first single lens reflex camera and started making color slides. Of course, the processing was more than one could handle in a simple home darkroom, so my days of processing film ended.

The Start of Travel Photography

My love for travel photography started when I had the opportunity to live in Canada for a year. At the end of my year of scientific research I had the time and money saved to travel from Montreal to Vancouver. Then I traveled down the west coast through San Francisco and ultimately through Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. The return trip took me through Mexico to New Orleans, Chicago and finally Montreal.

For many years after this grand tour I travelled back and forth across the Atlantic, visiting England and a few European countries. Although I had an SLR and subsequently an early digital camera, I took few pictures.

My Career

The bulk of my professional career was spent firstly as a research scientist in inhalation toxicology and subsequently providing toxicology and risk assessment consulting services relating to environmental and industrial building contamination.

Retirement

And then came retirement and the opportunity to travel more frequently and for longer periods. It was around this time that my wife was introduced to travel writing and asked me to start taking pictures for her. A short time later she started her blog Six Legs Will Travel and it was time to get up to date and move to a good DSLR.

My Photography

In this portfolio you will see not only pictures of well known and lesser known places but also a variety of genera as I experiment with different shapes and ambient light.

I hope you will enjoy what you see. All the pictures that appear on MyEclecticImages were taken by me, and all are available for purchase either as art work or for editorial or commercial use. Although there will be some pictures of people without releases – particularly people in native dress – I will, where appropriate collect releases for commercial use.

If you would like to commission me to take some specific pictures for you or if you have any questions about pictures you see please feel free to contact me at simon@myeclecticimages.com.