Ken was born in Dunbar, in 1945, and after leaving school he went to the London College of Printing, where he first started his love affair with photography…and with Pat, his wife, who had returned to the UK to study geography and archeology, and met Ken who lived in a trendy flat in Central London. They moved to Matlock, where they set up a printing business, and where Ken was heavily involved with the early days of Photoshop.

Ken was an active member of Matlock CC, and starter his RPS journey whilst there. Ken and Pat had a son, Jonathan, who now lives in Aberdeen with his family. On retiring Ken and Pat returned north of the border to St Cyrus, where they joined Brechin PS initially and then latterly Mearns CC.

In 2015 he was awarded his A, and then his fabulous F in May 2023, with a reworking of the Rollei instruction manual, based on a camera that his Uncle used whilst he was a professional photographer in St Andrews, and that Ken inherited on his Uncle’s passing. The panel was truly a labour of love and a deeply personal project for Ken, and well deserved the RPS’s highest honour.

Ken was heavily involved in DIG, and became webmaster for RPS Scotland in 2019, a post he held until his passing. He worked tirelessly and selflessly on our web presence, the FB pages, the monthly competition, and a whole lot of other Committee activities. He was also a regular judge at camera clubs and societies throughout Scotland, and liked to be a bit controversial, as that got the discussions going, and he loved a good going “discussion”, although having only one mouth and two ears didn’t stop him being more of a talker than a listener. He will be missed for all of that, but also as a good friend.

Steven Whittaker ARPS