Simon Stafford first became interested in photography while a student at Aberdeen University. Completely self-taught, he talked his way into a job as the photographer for the university's weekly newspaper, and for the next few years spent all his spare time photographing the many activities of his fellow students and aspects of life in the city.
The thrill of seeing his pictures in print encouraged him to submit work to other publications. Since then his photographs have been used widely in newspapers, books, calendars, and magazines. He has also enjoyed numerous successes in many photographic competitions. Simon has built up a wealth of experience over the past thirty years in both film and digital photography. Throughout his photographic career he has used the Nikon system extensively, adopting digital photography at an early stage with the release of the Nikon D1 camera during 1999; he has being using digital cameras exclusively since 2004.
Currently he is involved in a wide variety of photographic projects, which include presenting photographic workshops, and contributing illustrated articles to leading photography magazines, he is also Technical Editor to Nikon Owner magazine.
He completed his first book, The Nikon Compendium, during 2003. With nearly 400 pages and Simon's own extensive photography of Nikon cameras, Nikkor lenses, and Nikon system accessories, including a colour section, it represents a comprehensive history of the Nikon system for the user and collector alike. His books for the Magic Lantern Guide series, published by Lark Books, on the Nikon D70s/D70, and Nikon D80 have become best sellers. He has written further twelve books in the same series, including the new Nikon D5000, Nikon D3000, and Nikon D300s models, plus the Nikon AF Speedlights & Creatve Lighting System. Currently, he is writing a book on the latest Nikon D-SLR, the D3s, and working on a new series of books about Nikon Speedlights and the Nikon Creative Lighting System.
At the Gallery area of this site you will find portfolios of his work, whilst the News page contains a list of Simon's activities including forthcoming photographic workshops and tutorials, and details of his books, and magazine articles.
"Simon Stafford ARPS is a regular contributor to Practical Photography and has demonstrated his creativity with a camera on many occasions." William Cheung, Editor (former).
"Simon Stafford quite simply epitomises a standard of excellence in many different photographic disciplines with real style and, he is always ready to share his knowledge with others." Gray Levett, Managing Director, Grays of Westminster.