My mid-life crisis arrived when I turned 60. That was when I realised that life was not just about counting the years, it was about making the years count. So I started to search for something new which would provide additional purpose & pleasure. Luckily for me, my family materially assisted that search by gifting me a new Canon 40D & in so doing, created a whole new addiction. Little did they realise the time & housekeeping funds this activity would consume.

Having both studied & taught geography in a previous life, I have always been drawn to the environment & the myriad of ways humans interact with it. So I guess that it was no great surprise that I was naturally drawn to landscape photography. To date, my images have largely been created by instinct & enthusiasm, rather than crafted on technical expertise, but I have treated my learning process in much the same way as one eats an elephant – one bite at a time.

My photographic education has been shaped by some very talented & enthusiastic photographers & I will always be grateful for the knowledge they have shared & the guidance they have provided. I have had such great times at their workshops that I have morphed into a ‘workshop junkie’ – I simply can’t get enough.

During my thirty five years in the business world, I was essentially a team player, focusing my abilities on creating the collective good. Now, as an ‘enthusiast photographer’, I am simply an individual trying to communicate what I see and feel in the world around me. It is a fascinating transition and one from which I have derived a huge amount of pleasure.

Five years ago I would never have contemplated displaying my images in the public domain. Now, I am happy to exhibit those that I like. For you to like them too would be the ‘icing on the cake’ for me. Either way, you can be assured that my camera and I will remain close companions and that I will continue to have fun.

Russ McLean
Arrowtown, New Zealand