Hi, I am Dereck Green. My interest in photography started at a very young age when my father gave me a Kodak Folding 620 film camera and I started experimenting with it. In a short while I began to master using the camera. Bear in mind that there was no auto focus, built in light metering system, no looking at back screen to check your results. Every image was made with manual settings and you only saw results after developing the film. This of course meant spending hours in the darkroom learning how to perfect the film developing process and then learning to print from the film negatives. I had to find ways of getting the results I wanted by manipulating the developing and printing processes, no Photoshop etc.

After matriculating I spent some time at University studying things totally unrelated to photography, I really should have studied art instead. Then I spent a year in London working for a Chelsea photographic studio where I learnt many new skills.

Returning to South Africa, I was offered an apprenticeship with one of Johannesburg’s leading photographers, but who could survive on R32.50 per month, certainly not me. I decided to join the fledgling computer industry as an analyst/programmer and spent the next 10 years working for a variety of corporates.

Truth be told, all the while my photography journey continued, until I decided to take the plunge into being a full time professional photographer some 45 years ago.

Since then I have owned several commercial / advertising photography studios and have worked in many different genres, with international and national companies and advertising agencies. All of my work was produced with a variety of small, medium and large format film cameras.

The advent of digital photography turned everything on it’s head, new skills had to be learned and mastered. The darkroom became Photoshop and Lightroom requiring new computer skills which luckily came easy for me. To continue with my journey I had to embrace the digital world and the challenges it presented.

My journey continues, learning new skills every day and adapting some old ones to get the results I want. I take on a variety of projects that interest me as can be seen on this site. 

These days I work mostly on location using available natural light, it’s still the best light available.