Growing up in poverty in a first world country is not unique, I was surrounded by despair and decay. I soon learned to look beyond the cruel and dank environment around me, and, only as children can, I began to rejoice in the small pieces of beauty that drew my eye. That beauty did not reveal itself easily as it was quite often hidden just below the surface, waiting to be discovered.

This search for the long overlooked and fascinating contradictions within the environment has followed me into adulthood. That search has fuelled my creativity and is what has drawn me to photography, long exposure photography in particular. The practice of photography allows me to relive that self, same, joy of discovering the transient, desolate and ephemeral dark nature of the landscape and to reveal it to those who appreciate the paradox within my images.