As a teenager I had hoped to learn more about art and photography by attending art college but left abruptly on the first day after seeing a teacher tear up somebody’s painting in front of the class and trample on it saying it was rubbish. I remember thinking, who are you to decide what was good and what was bad art - isn't art subjective? At that time I was a headstrong punk rocker and I couldn’t get the idea of a row out of my head, sort of wishing the painting had been mine.
Undeterred, I befriended the proprietors of a wonderful photo lab in Brighton called ‘First Light’, who on seeing my emerging portfolio encouraged me to delve deeper into photography.