I have always had a keen interest in photography, I started with small, inexpensive camera which my parent bought for my birthday one year. I took pictures of places of interest in my local town. We had a riding stables that was situated just over the hill from my parents house, I took pictures of the wildlife and horses.

My camera was ok, but I wanted to take pictures which were of a better quality, and my aim was take close ups of flowers and animals which showed more detail in them.

I decided to look for another camera so I choose a Minolta which had hand focus, it enabled me to generate the pictures that I had wanted. I took pictures of sun sets which were lovely and clear, some of them I even managed to sell on.

To take my photography even further, and to get a result that I was happy with I felt that the only way forward was to create a dark room of my own. This was I wouldn’t have to wait for my photo’s to be developed by a shop. I could get the results there and then, and if the picture I had taken was not up to standard I could go out and take it again.

I went to the local college to learn how to develop photo’s in a dark room. I found out the materials I would need for my dark room, I was then ready to create my dark room. I built it in my shed at the bottom of the garden and a run power to the shed. After many years of developing my photo’s in this way, digital cameras were finally invented. This meant I no longer had to spend painstaking hours in the dark trying to achieve the perfect end result.

I now have a top of the range digital camera, and travel the world taking photo’s on a variety of subjects.

This is how I found myself photographing a goldsmiths shop in Stuttgart (Goldschmied Stuttgart). I knew that Stuttgart was well known for its jewelers and engraving, and when I visited there were lots of people buying silver (Silber Ankauf) and gold jewlerry. I took a variety of pictures of goldsmiths in Stuttgart, and even went to the extreme of asking some of the jewelers for examples of their engraving work. I took various pictures of the engraving work. I combined the pictures of the goldsmiths shops, and the engraving work (Gravuren Stuttgart) done in Stuttgart, and exhibited them, I asked members of the Stuttgart community to come and view my work. Many of the Stuttgart goldsmiths came and purchased pictures to put up in their shop.

I found Stuttgart a fascinating city, with lots of shops, street performers and cafes. The people are very friendly and you are made to feel very welcome. I found it extremely easy to take pictures of the goldsmiths and had the consent of the owners of all the shops I photographed. I would definitely recommend a trip to Stuttgart to anyone heading for a weekend of shopping in Europe.