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Leigh Preston FRPS EFIAP MPAGB FIPF
Leigh’s first tentative steps into photography started at school. He quickly learned darkroom work,
printing black and white prints of pictures taken of his school friends with a Kodak Retinette 1B.
That camera belonged to his father, who was also a hobby photographer keen on taking pictures of
his family life. Besides using FP3 for mono work, Leigh started taking colour slides when he was
working at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.
He had a cousin who was a photographer, working for British Railways Western Region, so it
was in the blood, although it was painting and drawing that provided the composition and design
that formed a foundation for all the pictures he has taken since then.
Leigh’s main influences were L.S. Lowry, Atkinson Grimshaw and Bill Brandt, but also the environment
that surrounded him. In 1977 he bought a second-hand Canon FTB, joined the Ordnance Survey Photographic
Society and started travelling the usual route that many of us have taken. Club competitions,
exhibitions and distinctions, magazine articles, photography year books and his own portfolio book
followed. Leigh was invited to join the RPS distinctions panels, which he sat on for over 27 years.
He also became a member of Arena and of the London Salon.
His working life was as a cartographer and more recently in education. Leigh has plenty of other
interests and pastimes including travel, hill walking, music, long distance running and industrial
archaeology.
He is still a working photographer, both commercially and for his own satisfaction, and doubts whether
he could give it up, even if he tried. Leigh still prints in the darkroom at times, although most of
his output is digital now. Photography has taken him to places around the world he never thought he
would see. It has been a form of expression for him and given him an immense amount of satisfaction
for nearly 40 years.
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