About

I remember as a kid I had a thing about hobbies. I tried everything, from making model aeroplanes and boats out of raw chunks of balsa wood to cycling in the countryside to draw intricate maps of the routes I had covered. I thought I might try Paleontology and dug up my sisters recently deceased pet rabbit Snowy to see if I could wire the skeleton back together again.  ( .......  I couldn't ) I then discovered photography. My uncle Bill was darkroom technician and a keen amateur photographer. He had an ingenious darkroom built into a wardrobe. The first time I saw him swish the developer over a sheet of plain white paper and see it slowly unveil the image I was hooked. I had to have my own darkroom, and very quickly  I had taken over my parents loft. I worked at a local garden centre at the weekends and all my income was poured into my new hobby. The main thing missing was a decent camera. What I really wanted was a 35mm Pentax, what I ended up with was a medium format fold out German camera. Not the glamour I had imagined but Bill insisted that the larger negs would give better quality. This worked in my favour when I photographed my Bruce Lee poster collection and sold the A4 prints in the school playground. Despite the uncool looking camera I was encouraged by seeing David Hemmings in the film Blow Up and from then on the only career I was going to seriously consider was being a photographer. However the only piece of careers advice I could get from my 1970's comprehensive was to work in the local glass factory or join the police force. I quickly found out that the best way into photography was to go to the big smoke and get a job assisting. Ever since  I have never lost that first buzz I got from photography. Even now the desire to keep moving forward and create new images is as strong as ever. I still mess about with bits of wood as I did as a kid but now I make my own large format cameras for my Collodion Wet Plates, the process invented in the 1850's which heralded the start of this art form. I now shoot from my purpose built studio at my home in West london. Like many others I have swapped the hassle of traveling into Central London for the luxury of never stepping out of my slippers. Not very David Hemmings but it suits me fine.

Dave King