User:WatfordHertsLondon

With a camera Gifted by my father when I was aged 13, my photographic journey began in Watford. Upon leaving school at 16, I went straight to college wanting to do photography. Unfortunately I was up against others with better qualifications, so I opted for media studies which included photography, graphic design and IT which would pave the way for creating websites.

I left with a Diploma qualification but found it hard to get into media or design jobs. So I carried on working for my father as a fabrication engineer.

A few years later, after studying programing and building Computers, I was employed as an IT Support Engineer. It allowed me to teach myself HTML code, and I built my first website which was really popular and so I created more. I was of the first 4 million to be online.

My news journey started modestly—a Google Blogger site, which I first used to post my photographs.

However, my path took an unexpected turn. Reporting from crime scenes became my forte. Friends tipped me off, and one fateful night, I found myself at a shooting incident in Garston. As the sole reporter on the scene, I published my account at 2 a.m. The BBC picked up my story, but I held the exclusive footage. Within two days, my article garnered nearly 100,000 views.

With the blogger site having just two ads—but, the article earned me £30. With that, I invested in a proper website domain and launched my first website 'WatfordLondon'.

Hailing from Watford, in 2018 I embarked on a unique project: creating a local Wikipedia-style website. I explored places of interest, capturing photos and weaving together their facts and histories. London, a mere 17 miles away, found its place in my digital chronicle.

The transition to “WatNews” in 2023 reflected my focus on news as the central theme.