I am not a trained photographer. It’s something I stumbled into more out of necessity than desire.

As I was writing the DJ gear reviews that made my name, I neither liked nor wanted to use the supplied press shots. As a skilled retoucher, I could see just how much time the assorted marketing teams had spent deblegging (technical term) every imperfection, before eventually just CGI-ing them into an unrealistic representation of their new shiny.

So I invested in a Canon Powershot A80 and never looked back. And even with the minuscule 4.1 megapixel sensor, I was soon shooting images that made skratchworx stand out.

I briefly dabbled with a Sony Nex5 before jumping into the big wide world of Canon DSLRs. My EOS 7D ignited my creativity and soon had me shooting images that made the press shots look… well like press shots rather than insane close-ups and abstract arty shots I became known for.