For as long as I can recall I have felt an interest in engineering and technology; as if it were an intrinsic fascination. What it has achieved, in my lifetime alone is simply fascinating. Always the inquisitive one, even to this day I will be by my dad’s side whenever anything concerning electronics or mechanics is involved. He is an engineer and has been highly influential on my upbringing in the world of engineering. Once old enough, he got me my first toolkit, possibly the biggest mistake my parents made. Most things in the house were found taken apart to satisfy curiosity.

At first I was unable to reassemble them, so, naturally, hid the pile of  parts out of sight. As I’m sure many others did, my early days of electronics tinkering started with small soldering Kits from Maplin (An electronics & components store here in the UK). These begin to give a better understanding of how certain components work and can be matched to do useful things, then began my own projects.

… You’re either an

Engineer OR Creative…

Despite the age old stereotype, even as an engineer I have a special love for Arts and Design. Although having been known to comment on the beauty of great Code and Engineering design, I spend far more time admiring photography. Since getting my first Film SLR in 2008 my interest in photography has become an absolute love and its what now consumes much of my free time. This has become a creative outlet, contrasting the structured research of an engineering doctorate. Much like other artistic fields, photography has strong technical aspects, especially so when attempting to create an image from an idea. I most enjoy learning about and using a multitude of technical techniques to capture and create the image I have in mind. My photography work is shared on www.islou.co.uk.