This week, we’re talking to Neil Stanley, who is originally from Surrey and now lives in Warrington after moving here to train as a maths and computing teacher.
Neil, who lives in Cinnamon Brow, has been taking photos since the age of seven with his first photos being at London Zoo.
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Warrington Guardian Camera Club member Neil Stanley
When and why did you take up photography?
I remember I must have been about seven years old when I took a small Brownie camera on a cub trip to London Zoo. But before that, I recall being shown how to make black and white contact prints by my mum in a blacked-out garden shed. She’d been taught by her father. I got my first SLR for my 20th birthday having had the usual instamatics. When I was teaching at Culcheth High in the late 1970s, I ran the school photography club. I got my first digital camera from the QVC shop at Birchwood. Today I help run the Warrington u3a Photo Group.
Fly agaric
What do you love about taking pictures?
It helps me notice things and posting images can help others see those things too. Before digital cameras and smartphones, I was often the only person taking photos, recording the events I was involved with.
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“Photography is a form of mindfulness and helps me appreciate the present moment”
A bee on a marsh orchid
Where is your favourite place to take pictures and why?
I will take pictures anywhere and everywhere – far too many some would say. But I am quite efficient in sifting and selecting those I wish to keep or show off.
Dusk on the Thames
What is your favourite subject matter and why?
If you ask friends, they would say the moon. I once got 16 clear night shots in a row in Warrington. Birds, fungi, bugs and flowers feature heavily. I recently got a smart telescope and on the few clear nights we have had recently I’ve been testing that out. I managed to get ‘that comet’!
A wren
READ MORE:
“My happy place is walking and taking photos – I love how a picture tells a story”
What do you enjoy about being part of our Camera Club on Facebook?
I like sharing my photos and seeing what others have been up to. It is especially nice if your photo gets selected for print or an online portfolio.
Puffins away
If you could photograph anyone/any place/anything, who/what would it be?
I’ve been able to photograph puffins but never with a beak full of sand eels.