ROGER BAYS: About artist

I was born in England in 1958. I took my first photograph (below) in 1961 when I was three years old. I shot the image, of my mum and dad, on their 120 roll film camera, which they often carried in a gas mask bag kept from World War 2. Whilst the negative suffered a burst of stray light the key parts of the image were not destroyed. My parents later gave me a Kodak instamatic 25 camera, which used Kodak's new kodapak 126 film cassettes. We did not have a lot of money for film, so image taking was a bit infrequent. However, owing a camera offered a gateway into photography.

Mum and dad 1961

In my teens I took extra studies in technical drawing and by my early twenties I was working as a design draughtsman for Philips in Cambridge, England. I had really wanted to become a photographer, but this seemed out of the question. I later worked for Cambridge Consultants Limited. I was part of the inkjet development team. It was the early days of inkjet printing, customers had to pay thousands of dollars for a printer with very low resolution. I still find it hard to believe that today I can buy a good inkjet for under a hundred dollars.

Leading the first pitch, through the overhangs, of Bow Wall, Bosigran sea cliffs, Cornwall, UK

In 1978 I took up rock climbing and a few years later skiing. I travelled the world in search of rock, snow, and adrenaline; scary trips to the French Alps, cold nights benighted on hillsides, hanging onto handholds that were always too small, and skiing narrow couloirs between rock bands that were too steep to fall on. In 1988 this outdoor lifestyle led to a guiding job with British Antarctic Survey. One of the most exciting memories was driving a skidoo back to base camp through a whiteout. Visibility was close to zero, yet, we managed to navigate with bamboo garden canes, the sort you get in a DIY store, and a compass. Going to Antarctica gave me the opportunity to work with scientists, and it reawakened my interest in physics. On my return I studied physics for a year at Canterbury University in Christchurch, New Zealand. Despite good grades and a love of physics I decided to buy an old railways bus and head to the snow for another ski season. I put the Kawasaki 750 and bicycle in the back of the bus, hooked up my old Hillman Hunter to an A frame behind, and took off to Wanaka. In 1995 I started writing and illustrating how to ski book, 'Ski Magic - the secrets of skiing explained,' which I published in 1997.

Skiing in a tuck position over pumice rock into the crater of Mt Tarawera

(it seemed like a good idea at the time)

Since 2001, I have been mainly working with photography. The development of high quality digital cameras has been really helpful. In 2003 I was able to shoot over 6000 images, this would have been uneconomic just a few years earlier. I mainly shoot documentary and art photography images.

In 2005 I started collaborating with the Human Interface Technology Laboratory HITlab at Canterbury University. During this collaboration I built the Semaphore installation, which utilised cutting edge augmented reality technology. In 2007 Semaphore was accepted into the Anthony Harper competition held at the Centre of Contemporary Art (COCA) in Christchurch, New Zealand, and went on to win, 'The Press peoples choice award.'