Falklands Pictorial
It all started in 1985 when I met a man in a pub. Pete Gilding was the landlord to be exact. He had expressed the usual pub landlord interest in who I was and what I did.
Being a photographer always raises a little interest in new acquaintances, especially when I was at that time specialising in the heyday of Embassy World Snooker, down the road at the Crucible Theatre.
He was interesting too... he had a collection of old images of the Falkland Islands, and needed help to catalogue and market them. He had gathered these from people across the islands, and they are a unique glimpse of bygone days on a far-flung outpost.
The Falkland Islands might be very, very far away, but I could recall that the year before the news coming from down south had even pushed snooker off the TV screens.
We soon struck up a rapport, and a partnership ensued which saw me on an RAF 'airbridge' Tristar heading for some winter sun and intent on shooting every aspect of this strange far away place that had caught the attention of the world’s media.
It was cold and freezing in the UK, but January is summer down there, and I stayed for two weeks longer than I originally planned.
Blue skies, golden beaches, windswept moors, land rovers (there were virtually no roads there in those days), wildlife, and interesting people to meet were a footloose young photographers' dream.
Pete's collection of old Falkland images were the most exclusive of the pictures you see here. But I also briefed him on how to use his local influence to get him in the press pack on Royal visits.
This is just a very small selection from my files, please enquire if you have any other image requests.