Be it commercial work, street photography or coastal landscapes – Chris Ford, who grew up in Canada and now lives in in the heart of the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, has bags of experience that he imparted to his students during 30 years of teaching photography in Oxford. Here, he tells us how he approaches street photography, shares his love for Dorset’s famous landmark Pulpit Rock and why it’s worth persevering when creating your first Calvendo calendar, even if you’re not a techie …

Chris, can you talk a bit about your background as a photographer and how and when you took up photography?

I was introduced to photography by my grade six school teacher in the academic year of 1967/68. She had visually described the lyrics to a current song on the radio at the time, and then assigned similar as homework. I tried my best, using my plastic Kodak Instamatic camera in the middle of a very white Canadian winter. Needless to say, my results were useless, but the seed had been planted. I later studied it in high school and had decided I wanted to make it a career during my college (Quebec CEGEP) years (1974). Educationally, my training was as a commercial advertising photographer, specializing in studio photography.

How would you describe your style and approach as a photographer? Continue reading →