All photographers are influenced by those who have gone before them or are working alongside them. What we admire of the work of others my vary but the story of photography is, essentially, everything that has gone before.

My own influences are wide and varied and, more than the photographs themselves, I am interested in the people behind the camera and what motivated them to go out there and travel and shoot and make the pictures in the first place. Even those who became successful were not successful when they started out so it was never money that led them. Nor did they know anything more than any other novice at the beginning. They developed their know-how and style. How? What influenced them? What made them want to learn? More importantly, what did they learn?

Over the last few years I have been trying to find out and distil that knowledge into a simple format which has/is becoming my bible. A handy way of reminding myself of the key issues I should or could or might be dealing with each time I take a picture. Or perhaps I should say prepare to take a picture because much of what I have learned needs considering before I press the shutter.

So to simplify things I have selected a hundred photographers who have had an influence on me. Sometimes I have come across them through purposeful study. Sometimes by accident. Sometimes because they are recognised greats whom you can't ignore. It is hard to say which have had a larger or smaller influence, partly because this may change over time, partly because new thinking invades a space and partly because different circumstances require different thinking. But each of them has impacted on my learning and the philosophy of my work.

So my "bible" consists of one hundred names in no particular order. Each name has a quotation attached to it that has taught me something and been relevant to me at the time. The list also has a link to a webpage containing information about the person. This latter is really for others who might want a quick look at someone's work, rather than myself although it provides and easy and quick way to check back n the detail or bigger picture if I need to. I expect I will continue to expand my list as time goes on and I find other helpful influences to add but for now it is enough. I have been posting from this list on my Facebook page for a while now and am about halfway through as I write this blog. However I also thought that anyone coming across this might like a copy of the list. So if you do, contact me through the website and I'll send it to you. It's always interesting to see what influences others....

The images used on this page belong to my following influences :- Helen Levitt; David Bailey; Margaret Bourke-White; Cig Harvey; Edward Weston; Alec Soth and Yousuf Karsh. The feature image is by Helmut Newton. I owe much to all of them...