In spring of 1997 I had what, for me, could be classed as a ‘Big’ dream. It was all flashing lights and in it I was a photographer. The ‘feel’ of the dream was upbeat, light and fun, so not surprisingly I interpreted this as a positive indication from within about my unspoken thoughts about photography as a means of making a living. Over the years I’d toyed with the idea of creating a career as a photographer, but done nothing about it. I think the tipping point for me was seeing in ‘Building’ magazine a single page feature article about a quantity surveyor (which of course I still was) who’d jacked in his career as a QS and decided to drive the length of the Americas on his beloved motor bike taking photographs – it could be done. I wasn’t planning on travelling the Andes by motorbike, but I wasn’t enjoying the quantity surveying and my life needed to change direction. Once I’d decided to follow my interpretation of my dream, I gave myself a year to plan, save and to prepare, enough time to formulate my plans.