Freddie Patmore - the Harrow photographer

Although my speciality has and always will be, knitting and crochet, those of you who know me well will know that I've been photographing in and around Harrow in NW London for decades.

Ever since I studied photography at Harrow College, I have had periods of total obsession with my camera. It's my second set of eyes.

How the fella ever put up with me following him around poking a Minolta Dynax 60 in his face when we first met, I'll never know. But 12 years later he's still here, and I've got some great shots of him from back in the day. Mostly in and around Harrow.

My favourites were one of my first shoots with him, a kick around in Byron Park.

They're pretty basic. I went armed with a nice roll of Ilford HP5 400 B&W film (the bestest in the business), my cheapo'beercan'  zoom lens purchased at a second hand camera shop in Rayners Lane and a fast shutter speed. That's all it took.

One of my favourite ever shots of Ben. I love the look of film photography and always have.

All that remained was to find a good view point.

By the by, I acknowledge the vignetting in the above shot - know that I was 18/19 and had no idea how to handle this extremely long lens. I like how it frames it, actually.

Ant was always landing in interesting positions, they made for fab pics.

I won't lie - there were times when I feared for the safety of my camera. One swift hit of a ball on my gear could have all been the end. But my was it worth it.

I recently rediscovered the scanned negatives on disc - so glad I thought to do it back then.

I have recently made the swap to digital and although I was trepidacious at first, the expensive cost of film developing recently really has left me with no option.

I can't ditch film completely, it's what I know and love. I know how to handle it. But it's about time I stepped into this century and kept up with the game.

Since then I've gone on to do weddings (good fun, actually) and the occasional portrait shot. But the camera did have a few years of sitting in a dusty box until I could musterf the budget to pay for pro film developing.

A recent play around with Kodak Portra 800 left me with an eye-watering bill of over £60 to develop two rolls with an extra set of each. It's an awful lot to pay if you're not even sure you're happy with the final outcome.

Getting a low viewpoint lends a more dramatic composition

But luckily with these, I was. Harrow is a great town and I love to call myself a Harrow photographer. I've had a great many opportunities to capture the beauty of the place I grew up in, and relish any opportunity to go on doing so.