Robin Weaver

I have been a photographer for all of my working life having been originally inspired to take it up as a hobby in my teens by seeing my grandfather's collection of sunlight-processed images taken in the 1920s.

In the 1970s a travelling exhibition in Cardiff of photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson made me want to be a documentary photographer - and for many years I was (although my day to day work as a staff photographer on various provincial newspapers was far removed from my personal photography and that of my reportage heroes).

I completed a three-year course at Newport College of Art and then joined the South Wales Argus as a trainee press photographer. After six years there I broadened my horizons - travelling to the USA and Australia (where I worked for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian during my two years in Sydney).

On returning to England I again worked for newspapers in Kent, Hampshire and Derbyshire but the landscapes of Australia had inspired me to take my photography in a different direction. Increasingly my landscape photography became an antidote to the often routine newspaper work and when I worked for the Derby Evening Telegraph I couldn't wait for the times when I made the short journey into the Peak District where I began to produce my best work.

London-based Collections Picture Library began to accept my work and my specialist Peak District collection grew to over 3000 images and began to furnish me with monthly cheques for publication in books, magazines and newspapers.

In 1992 I turned freelance, planning to make a living from landscape and travel photography. I began to get commissions from magazine and book publishers such as Country Life, EMAP, Readers Digest Books etc and organisations like The Woodland Trust and The National Forest Company.

I now divide my time between commissioned work, stock photography and travel photography. My wife is the writer Helen Werin and together we produce travel articles for magazines and newspapers.

Robin Weaver
Derby
United Kingdom

Email: robin.weaver@btinternet.com