Cough, cough, sorry.
ABOUT ME….
Well, I’m John Virtue, I live in the beautiful West Coast of Scotland, always have, probably always will.
I’m getting on a bit now, but in my time, I’ve been, an Engineer in 3 different disciplines, done odd jobs here and there, unemployed a couple of times, and seem to have become unemployable…
Father time and the health service have conspired to slow me down, the pains I can largely manage, the side effects of all the meds, meh, still trying.
Despite all the other experience/jobs I have had, at the same time, I have always been a Photographer. Well, most of the time. I’ve been shooting for myself or someone else for over 45 years. Time to have a rest I reckon.
I have always loved shooting people most. I have shot all sorts of subjects, some eyebrow raisers, some really silly, on reflection… I turned full time professional in the mid 1980’s, (yes, that old). Then, later, whilst standing in a snow storm shooting a wedding, I thought, no, I’ll try something else, and take photos for others AS WELL. Since moving over to digital cameras in 2003, I have concentrated mainly on the Nude, mostly shooting for myself.
Why? It’s good fun, I got to meet lots of really nice people, and it’s bloody challenging! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve met a lot of people who should be locked up, but hey, most of them have been fun too.
I always tried to be artistic no matter what I shot, but especially the nudes. Nothing cheesy, nothing gynaecological, just nice artistic piccies. Now and then there has been a “What am I doing?”, where I have just put the camera down and walked away. But artistic is the aim, and I think I mostly managed it.
I used to post all over the place, when the web was young, for the last 10 or more years I haven’t. I stopped it because I respect my models’ privacy, and I don’t want people nicking my piccies, social media has gotten right out of hand, and idiots have complained about me posting piccies of naked people, or even just their bits, the most popular sites have rewritten the definition of some words, and erased over 50,000 years of evolution in order to change people’s bodys’ to satisfy their VERY mixed up moral compasses.
So, there, I’ve almost had enough. I want or NEED to complete a portfolio of my work, to show people what I have been doing all these years, and the old “leave it to posterity” routine. So, ALMOST had enough. I will complete my last couple of projects, then that’ll be me.
Please enjoy my site, if not, then you just have to go look at something else. If you don’t like my work, and it’s not for you, then please just go away QUIETLY, I won’t care.
Old photographers never die, the just fade away….
JV.