I have lived in the Waterside area of the New Forest for the last 45 years and picked up a camera for the very first time when I was 14. I then proceeded to teach myself the basics and discover the magic of the darkroom.

After a couple of summer holiday photographic jobs with a local marine/commercial photographer I left Totton College and went to work in the photographic department of a Southampton advertising agency and spent the first two years in the dark! And the last year as the company photographer before leaving to set up my own business from my parents home in 1979. I had no photographic or business training or qualification and must have survived purely on enthusiasm and good luck. 26 years on I'm still in business but have not seen the easy-going busy days of the mid 80s to the early 90s in recent years. Many things have changed for the better (with the exception of business morals). Light has not changed but the method of capturing and reproducing images has moved on in leaps and bounds.

I found that having responsibilities (a wife and two boys) forced me to diversify into various image and graphic related businesses just to make sure that there was enough money coming in to pay the bills. I realised a couple of years ago that I had lost the "photographic plot" and only took photographs if I saw pound notes down the lens. It was after my father died in 2003 I realised that I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed creating images for pleasure and not just for pound notes. Having gone over to digital (Kodak DCS ProSLR/c) and restarted making images, I joined Southampton Camera Club. I have since set myself a rule that I will not use any commercial commissioned images in any SCC event, thus keeping pleasure and business photography separate.

My industrial/commercial web site is www.paulrapson.co.uk and my photo-art site is www.pablopaul.com or contact paul@paulrapson.co.uk

My first love is fast dinghy sailing and can be found down at Calshot Sailing Club most weekends. It would be great to take action sailing shots when the conditions are perfect for spectacular images. But it is so much more rewarding doing it than photographing it!