Nick Bodle - Photography

NICK BODLE - PHOTOGRAPHY

I was born in Bodiam in the county of Sussex but had lived in Kent for virtually the whole of my life with only one exception when I spent a period of time in the Merchant Navy. My wife and I now live in the county of Cornwall and very close to the Moors of Bodmin and Dartmoor and the Cornish Coast. Areas that have drawn us on many occasions over the years. I have been interested in photography from a very young age and it more or less started when I opened a packet of Kodak B&W paper which my father had stored in a cupboard. It was not a wise thing to do as I remember, as he was not very happy with me. It was not until I had married and settled down that it become more of a serious hobby and I started to produce my own work in the darkroom. An activity I still enjoy and my hope is, that Digital technology does not make it more difficult or impossible to get paper and chemicals. Although I produce a great deal of monochrome images I initially started by printing Cibachrome prints, a very long winded and temperamental process. I still feel a good Cibachrome print takes some beating.

My first camera was a Kodak 127 which was given to me by my brother so that I could record my travels around the world and I did take some very memorable images that reflected the time I was in the Navy. I could only dream then of owning a top notch camera at the time. However, not long after I was married I purchased a Voigtlander this was with the help of my wife, and little did she know what she was letting herself in for and where it would lead. My wife is now a very good photographer in her own right and on one occasion stated "if you cannot beat them, join them".
What photography has allowed us to do is to enjoy another activity we both enjoy doing together and this is walking. We like nothing more than walking the fells of Cumbria, the Yorkshire Dales, Dartmoor and many other locations around the UK.

I am a member of three photographic organizations. A member member, of Tonbridge Camera Club. I also belong to the UPP (United Photographic Postal Portfolios of Great Britain) where I am member of a purely wet darkroom monochrome group, circle 10 of which I am also secretary. I also belong to another local monochrome group, Ag Mono. Which is again is a purely wet darkroom group as the name suggests. I also enter as many exhibitions as I can throughout the course of a year. This allows my work to be seen throughout the UK.

Nick Bodle - Photography