Welcome to images through a lens, photographs by Mark Crocker.

Although I owned an SLR for around 6 years, I rarely took it out of full auto mode. In fact, I was at a loss as to what aperture priorty mode was. It was when honeymooning in Australia that I came across the Australian photographer Peter Lik. Peter has some truly stunning panoramic images. His book was probably the first book I purchased of photographic images.

During the trip I managed to take some interesting snaps without really understanding the mechanics of it. I entered some of the images in a local flower show competition and much to my surprise won two cups. This spurred me on to replace my old Minolta 700Xi SLR with the Minolta Dynax 7. At around the same time, I joined a local camera club (www.clevedoncameraclub.com) and started to do quite well in the club competitions.

For Christmas 2002, my wife kindly arranged a photographic weekend with Lee Frost (www.photoadventures.co.uk) up in Northumberland, England. This location was particularly appealing, as not only do I originate from the North East, but my family still live there. My plan was to put what I had learnt from Lee to good use in subsequent visits.

The first surprise of the trip was the 5AM start. Anyone who knows me understand that I don't like mornings. I am glad I made the effort. It has taught me that some of the best landscape pictures are taken during that morning light. Now everytime I visit the North East I am usually out before sunrise.

That first Lee Frost weekend proved to be a lot more expensive than I had bargained for. I had little appreciation for different cameras, and had only heard about medium format let alone having seen a camera. A couple of people were shooting with Xpan, a camera I had never heard of. Since that visit I now own a medium format camera and an Xpan. The only downside now is the weight of the back pack.

After using fully automatic cameras for 10 years, I never thought I would get on with manual camera. But for landscape work, they prove invaluable, as I find they are much more flexible. No more focus hunting in low light for example.

Photography has become a real passion of mine. I trust you enjoy these pictures as much as I have had in taking them.

Mark Crocker