John Tinning

Son of a Solway wildfowler and photo-lithographer, John has been a keen birdwatcher all his life. His interest in natural history photography deepened after he met and accompanied Martin Withers on many photographic jaunts into the East Midlands countryside in the late 1970's. The two close friends collaborated on many projects during the course of the next 40 years and laughter was never far away when they were together. The partnership was broken by Martin’s untimely death in 2015. John's approach is quintessentially amateur : photography has to be fun, the welfare of the subject is paramount and commercial considerations are very much secondary. His greatest pleasure is to share his pictures with friends and to see his work published from time to time in books and journals.  

Much of John's early work was bird portraiture taken at the nest and he remains a keen advocate of what he describes as " a magnificent field sport", despite the fact that it has become slightly unfashionable. His fascination with badgers began many years ago : he was a founder member and Chairman of the Leicestershire Badger Group and has spent a great deal of time recording and photographing badgers. In recent years, John has developed a deep interest in entomology, with dragonflies and butterflies figuring regularly in his portfolio entries. Although his busy professional life as a Headteacher of a large secondary restricted his opportunities to travel, since retirement in 2004, he and his wife, Shelagh, have travelled widely in Africa, Australasia, North and South America and Europe in search of natural history images. 

John is very keen to see a wide range of subject material appearing in the portfolios and he is an enthusiastic supporter of efforts to encourage young natural history photographers to join the Portfolio. He is also Honorary Secretary of The Zoological Photographic Club.

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Contact details;
John Tinning
Brockwood House
21 Ervin Way
Queniborough
Leicestershire
LE7 3TT
Telephone: 0116 2602463
Email: john.tinning@btinternet.com