Where it all began!

I grew up in Kent, moved to Lincolnshire two years after graduating in 2012 at the University of Lincoln.

I’ve always enjoyed being creative. This stemmed from my interest in photography which really came a passion after a family vacation to Scotland, back in August 2008 – and my Dad dabbled with film photography when I was younger. Surrounded by beautiful scenery, quaint towns and villages, a trip that saw us visiting Glencoe, Loch Ness, Fort William, Onich, Edinburgh, Pitlochry and even a steam train journey on the ‘Jacobite’.

Christmas of 2008, I was gifted my first DSLR camera, a Canon EOS 450D and to-date I am still using a Canon DSLR, and having owned many during 2008 to present; from a 450D, to a 60D, 80D and now a 5D Mark IV. I am self-taught, and learnt how to use a DSLR from reading, photography practices and jargon, but most importantly getting outside with the camera!

Before Instagram and really before Facebook I was using Flickr to promote my photography, posting in groups and building connections – this led me to doing local band photography and photoshoots, most famously at the time a ‘strock’ (string, rock) band called the ‘Virgin Soldiers’, photography for my local theatre, the Sinden Theatre in Tenterden (Kent) where I grow up, and lived at the time. I even took a few photographs of Tenterden and had my own little gallery on the BBC South East website.

With a strong passion of everything automotive and in recent years I have been photographing car events which lead to the selling of prints. Owning a MINI, not a classic sadly, I have been involved with MINI clubs and even proudly showing my car on stands.

In lockdown (2021) I started to learn about landscape photography and investing in filters to practice this craft and to-date I still do – visiting Wales, and The Peak District often.

Web and IT…

The two subjects that I enjoyed and excelled in at school and sixth form were Business Studies and ICT – which helped to develop my creativity. Exploring e-commerce through Business Studies and fundamentals of web design and concepts though ICT went hand in hand together.

In 2009, I was invited to a prize evening for my final project in ICT which from memory was a multimedia project, involved building a website, featuring images and videography. This gave me passion to learn more about Web Technology. This saw me start university of August 2009, graduating with a 2:1 with a BSc (Hons) degree of July 2012 at the University of Lincoln (UoL).

G-Forces Web Management – Front-End Development

In August 2014, I worked for a company in Kent called G-Forces Web Management. I spent two years there as Front-End Developer turning around 50 front-end websites for national car dealerships – learning HTML, CSS/LESS, JavaScript, Photoshop, Content Management Systems (NetDirector and WordPress), responsive design, email templating and learning best practices for web layout. Design files were supplied from the Design Department and it was my job to turn these into working websites using tools and systems that were developed in-house.

I was at G-Forces for two years, when the opportunity came in 2014 for me to move to Lincoln full-time. This was brave move as I was enjoying my time at G-Forces, but I was still young and excited to try new opportunities – I loved Lincoln from my time their whilst studying at the UoL.

Leisure Outlet, E-Commerce

October 2014 to October 2023. I worked for Holcros LTD t/a Leisure Outlet and it was here I took on variety of work, from 200 employees at G-Forces to around 20 at Holcros LTD. Leisure Outlet was an online retailer of outdoor recreational products from supporting awning and accessories for caravans, motorhomes and campervans, tents, bikes, inflatable kayaks and outdoor appeal, with circa 8000 products in web portfolio – with our office being based in Attenborough (Nottinghamshire). My title was ‘E-Commerce Executive’ and during my time I was instrumental with:

  • Two redesigns of Leisure Outlet’s website, liaising with both our ERP providers (NoBlue) and web developers in-house and externally (Verto UK).
  • Product upload, the creation of large CSVs.
  • Product copy writing and image manipulation/enhancement.
  • Monitoring stock feed from suppliers, making sure they are sent regularly to keep our website’s inventory current.
  • Managing marketplaces and the development of these (Amazon, eBay, Decathlon, Google Shopping).
  • The set-up of Google Local Inventory Listings so we can offer a Click & Collect services on products available within our Nottingham premises.
  • Improving online conversion rates through, advice articles (SEO), email and social marketing, web design and usability.
  • Established Live Chat.
  • Established a YouTube Channel, 1.3k subscribers.
  • Established TrustPilot (both product and service reviews).
  • Ran the marketing and designed the PoS for shows and events (flyer/leaflet design).
  • Seasonal marketing campaigns and strategy.
  • The set-up and creation of promotional codes using NetSuite SuitePromotions.
  • HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/JQuery templating.
  • Worked closely with our IT developers, external and internally.
  • Facebook from 1,500 followers to 15,000.
  • Product photography and videography.
  • Supplier Business Trips (retailer award in 2018 from Coleman).
  • Internal reporting for marketing or for monitoring of IT systems.
  • Handling of IT tickets, also I co-developed the ticketing dashboard for staff to raise issues to the IT Helpdesk.
  • Improvement of internal communications and processes, developing and tailoring our ERP (NetSuite) for our business needs.
  • Delegation of work to colleagues in both IT and Marketing departments.
  • Lockdown saw the set-up of hybrid working.
  • The introduction of using a password manager as the company expanded.
  • The set up of our Ex-Display/Ex-Demo store.
  • Custom product configurators – The Isabella Awning Configurator allowed customers to select, and add to basket, the full caravan awning they require depending on the make and model of their caravan, along with upsell purchases. Fiamma and Thule product configurators had begun development from data gathering.
  • March ’23, I went on 12-week Help to Grow Management course at Nottingham Trent University.

Vehicle Illustrations

Car events had stopped during lockdown of 2021 and my side business of photographing cars and selling automotive prints had suspended. Using my skills within Abobe Photoshop and Illustrator that I have required though work, I set about creating digital illustration of cars from photographs that I have taken. Around 20-cars I have drawn and sold as bespoke art and I still continue to the present day.

Freelance Work

Having sadly been made redundant at Leisure Outlet due to market conditions I have been undertaking freelance work. My journey after Leisure Outlet saw the creation of WordPress website for a holiday let in Yorkshire, and Prime ITC have been in contact for my services to build a WordPress website for a family run business that stock and sell domestic, commercial and agricultural trailers. In addition, designing business cards for my local hairdresser. I’ve also been in progress of learning how to create custom WordPress themes which has allowed to theme this very portfolio. I am in process of advertising myself as freelancer and also open to looking at full-time positions.