11th December 2020

I am 45 years old, and I live in Edinburgh with my lovely wife (and fellow blipper)MrsCyclops.  We were joined on 20th May 2014 by our son BabyCyclops/CyclopsJnr

My professional life is in the technology industry.  I have a degree in Computer Science and Electronic eng Read more...

11th December 2020

I am 45 years old, and I live in Edinburgh with my lovely wife (and fellow blipper)MrsCyclops.  We were joined on 20th May 2014 by our son BabyCyclops/CyclopsJnr

My professional life is in the technology industry.  I have a degree in Computer Science and Electronic engineering and I am unashamedly fascinated by all things geeky.  These days most of what I do is  in the area of commercialising new technology.  In 2009 I took a year out to go to business school and spend some time in global and high-growth companies, courtesy of a Saltire Fellowship.  Then I ran my own company, Salient Point, helping start-ups companies bring new technology to market.  Now I have taken one of those on full time, and I am CEO of Cyan Forensics.

Somewhere along the way I got involved with some other reprobates in launching Blipfuture CIC to rescue Blipfoto, and I'm still a director - my introduction on Blip Central has more to say about that.

I have always had a passing interest in photography (one of my jobs was designing digital cameras!), but I took up SCUBA diving in 2005 and started developing a real interest in underwater photography.  I originally started blipping to develop my skills for underwater photography (especially composition) but using the camera every day has really got me excited about photography of all kinds as a hobby!  Being a geek, I find the technology side relatively easy - for me the challenge is developing my creative skills.

My last setup for underwater photography was a Canon S120 with Ikelite housing, a wide angle lens and a strobe, but I'm barred from diving for medical reasons at the moment...  

Above water I also use a Canon 60D (after having a series of Olympus bridge and SLR cameras).  For lenses I have a Sigma 17-70 (f/2.8-4), a Sigma 18-35 (F/1.8), a Tamron 70-300 (f/4-5.6), a Tamron 10-24 (f/4-5.6), a Sigma 35mm (f/1.4)  and a Canon 50mm (f/1.8).  I also have a 580 EX II flash and a pile of other  generic flashes and wee gadgety things (I did warn you I'm a geek right?) that are seldom used but prove indispensible when they do come out of the bag!

I get a huge amount of pleasure out of blipping, and I think it has helped my photography a lot!  I hope you'll enjoy some of my pictures too.

Some landmarks:
- 1st: Christmas Tree
- 100th: Beach
- 200th: Toast
- 300th: Glittering
- 365th: Caught in the Act
- 400th: 400 Blips
- 500th: May I present... 500 Blips!
- 730th: 2 Years of Blipping - 730 Blips
- 1000th: Foiled!
- 1095th: 3 Years - 1095 Blips - No gaps!
- 1460th: CTWO II - Four Years No Gaps
- 1500th: 1500 Blips - No gaps!
- 1825th: 5 Blipping Years
- 2190th: Six Years, OK?
- 3000th: 3000 Blips Later
- 3650th: Ten Blipping Years