Andy's Bio
Originally from Scarborough in North Yorkshire, UK.
Given such a classic geological coastline it wasn't long before I discovered fossil collecting and I still have some of those originally collected fossils on the shelves at home. At school i discovered that you could have lessons called "field trips" which meant days out of the classroom at interesting places so I began to love it even more!
I moved from there to study Geology at Leicester University in the Midlands of the UK where my passion for the outdoors grew into a passion for exploring under the surface where you get to see a lot more than you can when the landscape is covered in green stuff (I like finding out about that as well BTW) and then on to find work which brought me to South Wales
I moved to Wales in 1984 to work in the Geology Department of the now sadly depleted Geoology department of the National Museum of Wales My one year contact ended up being 5 years with the absolute delight of working on the Dinosaurs from China Exhibition I have worked variously in Geology and IT jobs in various companies in South Wales and the South West (with one small stint on an Oil Rig in the North Sea which exploded just after I left it ... not my fault you understand.
During all this time I was continuing exploring the underground and lucky enough to include one of the worlds top cave photographers as a close friend. I even ended up in or helping with a lot of his pictures, mostly from the old Black and White days Monochrome caves by Chris Howes
I finally ended up as IT Manager for a manufacturing site for a large American owned multinational corporation which paid the mortgage, but gave that up a while ago to do more things like taking pictures and showing them on this website.
In terms of photography I shoot with the OM system micro 4/3 sytem which is fantastic for the outdoors and am one of the admins on the Olympus / OM system E-group I describe my style as "competent" rather than artistic. I know a number of excellent artists and would never claim to have the sort of brain that can originate fantastic images from nothing, but I think I can drive the technology correctly and I know enough about it to understand how to get it to do some things that I want it to do. I also think that I understand when the view in front of me really deserves to be captured and how to do it which is after all what 90 percent of landscape photography is about.
Having a good understanding of the environment I think adds to the interest of any picture which is why I add information pages to all of my photo galleries. if you note any errors please do get in touch with the details
Rhian's Bio
Originally from Caerphilly, South Wales, UK she's stayed nearer at home in terms of a living address, but had plenty of adventures working and traveling abroad principally in SE Asia, Malta and through the UK.
She's now Chief Geologist Wales with the British Geological Survey
and an accomplished artist which led to her being part of the team who named the earliest predator to be discovered after Sir David Attenborough where she did
the original reconstructions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auroralumina
She is also an accomplished Cave, Botanical and Landscape artist as you can see on her website at www.carreg.org.uk and in her gallery at issa.org.uk
Who is Shenstone and why the name
Shenstone is the name of our house. Andy & Rhian own the House, and so the website