Life through a Lens…
Graham Fleming, Programme Manager for Public Services, Sport, Hospitality and Tourism, reveals his passion for photography and why he never goes anywhere without a camera. Graham also explains how his fascination and love of photography has got him in trouble over the years….
“I’ve always had a fascination for film and cameras. At 7 or 8 I was attracted to the magic of film… but my curiosity developed later on. If I got my hands on a camera at 7 or 8 I’d pulled it apart to see how it worked. When you look at a film in its raw state and then develop it for the first time, it’s like magic… you get hooked immediately. You can’t begin to explain what it feels like to see your first print materialise, like in the developing dish as you agitate the chemical solution over the paper. My very first darkroom session left me well and truly hooked”
Like most budding David Bailey’s, I started off with a cheap and cheerful basic camera, and soon realised its limitations. Then as a young teenager I visited the Isle of Man T.T. races. I was trying to take photographs of the bikes flying round the track, when this guy stood next to me with a professional outfit with a long telephoto lens gave me some really good advice on kit. He told me none of my photographs would come out because my lens was too wide and my shutter was too slow as the bikes were whizzing past so fast. Armed with a bit of knowledge I went off to contemplate my photographic future.”