About

My name is Andy. I first started photography when I was 17 using the schools Zenit II manual SLR. After I had to hand it back I managed to persuade my parents into getting me a Pentax P30 for my 18th birthday. I eventually went Digital 18 years later shelving the Pentax for the time being. Photography has never been so flexible and as a keen user of the manual settings, I like to get the photo right first time without relying on the use of any photographic enhancing programs...but it is not always possible.

Within the last few of years I have photographed numerous subjects, including weddings, wildlife, car meetings, bike meets and places travelled.

Following on from becoming more serious with my photography I have had a few successes along the way. With more weddings now being booked I feel that I am starting to achieve what I always wanted, photographs that please.

Along with the weddings I have entered a number of competitions and have succeeded in a few of them.

August 4th 2006 I won the Times Online photographer of the week with a shot of two hot air balloons I took at the Preston Hot Air Balloon Festival

On the 21st of November 2007 I won a place in the Calendar from Gardening.co.uk and was featured in the month of August.

I was later published on the BBC Lancashire Website along with a selection of other good photographers. I was again published on the BBC Lancashire website with my photos of the The 2009 Blackpool Airshow

I have also been published on BBC Cumbria Website with my photos from Appleby Fair.

After submitting photos to Lancashire Life magazine for their website I was asked to send in a selection of my photographs so they could do an article about my work, subsequently an article about myself was published in the November 2008 issue of the magazine.

Following the success of the previous competitions and the publication in Lancashire Life, I had the fortunate opportunity being interviewed on BBC Radio Lancashire with Stephen Lowe. A great opportunity and something I really enjoyed.

My work can also be seen on The Animal Files website.

My latest achievement was being selected as one of the photographers in a magazine called Capture Manchester - Arts Competition 2009. There were over 600 entries and my image is numbered as 185th. All photos were on display in CUBE (Centre for the Urban Built environment) and have been published in a commemorative book featuring all the entries.

BBC Lancashire have used my photos of the fireworks I took in 2008 to help promote the 2009 World Fireworks Championships to be held in Blackpool again. The photos can be seen on the BBC website at the following location: World Fireworks Championships at Blackpool North Pier

My aspirations are to continue with the success and build on what I have already achieved.

I would like to say a big thank you to my lovely wife Vanessa especially having the patience to hang around while I am taking photos.

AEasthope67@hotmail.co.uk