Who are the people behind the 4togsblog? I mean who are they really? Are they men, are they mice, are they particularly handsome and virile? What makes them get up and go in the morning?

These are all questions that we rarely get asked…

Contrary to popular belief, the 4 Togs are all human, at least nominally so. But to answer in any case, the 4togs are comprised of Ade, Mark, Matt & James. We are all remarkably separate people, but united in a double love of quality photography and strong continental lager consumed in equal quantities. We occasionally get the balance wrong, but then that’s half the fun.

The whole blog idea came about to allow us to share ideas, thoughts and random bits of work. It’s not meant to be either instructional, inspirational, or comical… Though I suppose we hope that it might be some of those things to some of the people that happen along and decide to have a read. We come from a diverse collection of photographic backgrounds: Wedding, Social, Documentary, Landscape & Architectural, and the real point of this collaboration is to keep sharing ideas, keep ourselves fresh, thinking and producing the very best work that we can.

James Burns:

James “Montgomery” Burns assembled the idea of the 4 Togs blog one evening after a particularly lucid Absinthe experience. One of the original 5 members of the A Team, Burns returned to the maximum security stockade after a divergance of opinion over the team’s leadership, and he remained there for a number of years whilst formatting his now famous theorum on the constructional uses of Horizon panoramic cameras.

Upon his release, Burns quickly moved into a hermitage located on one of the Farne Islands, off the North East coast of England. Whilst there he trained a crack squad of Eider ducks to do his bidding. Whilst initially pleased with their abilities at both swimming and flying, he grew rapidly disillusioned with their inability to operate simple machinery. One day, after being the first British male to swim, non-stop, to the Norwegian port of Stavanger and back, he discovered that the ducks had mutinied and subsequently deserted him to reside in a formerly secret penal colony on Aruba.

Disheartened, yet undetered by the setback, Burns moved once again to an available underground lair beneath a volcano. Despite being given a reasonable deal by the former occupant, a Mr Blofeldt, he soon determined that the seals on the double glazing needed replacement and that the chemical facility wasn’t build to internationally recognised standards. World domination plans were briefly put to one side whilst a series of improvements were made.

Following this time, Burns’ treasured plans to become the first imperial ruler of Earth began to fade due to his discovery of the photographic media. Using a Lomo to create hand-printed litho-cyanotype hybrids, he quickly shot to wide acclaim within the global art market, photographing such luminaries as MC Hammer, Les Dennis and Kerry Catona. As is only natural from an artist of such presence, others quickly flocked to him seeking instruction. Thus was the 4 Togs Blog born…

Real Name: James Bartholemew Montgomery Casper Burns.

Artistic Influences: Rolf Harris, Hermann Rorschach.

Favourite Food: Chicken tikka jalfrezi.

Favourite Drink: Chilled lager.

Likes: Football, Photography & Snowboarding, though not at the same time.

Dislikes: Weasels.

Is Here Because: It was all my idea…

His Personal Website: Flawless Photo

Mark Scholey:

The little-known offspring of Ray Mears and Penelope Keith, Mark Scholey has clearly inherited their longevity genes. Despite only appearing to be on the cusp of middle-age, the pensive Mr Scholey is actually an astonishing 219 years old, a statistic that he attributes not only to his unique parentage, but also to his refined diet of raw Puffin meat and Belgian Trappist beers.

A prodigy from an early age, Mark was placed in the care of others to disguise the secret of his true parents. Raised by a wandering Cistercian nomad monk, he was placed for the formative years of his life at the Abbey of Chimay, where he learned not only the finer points of the brewer’s trade, but was also given a sound grounding in philosophy and the classics. His first learned paper, “A Treatise on the use of Continental Ale Vessels in Photographic Principle with diagrams as to their Light Refractive Properties” was hailed as a masterpiece by at least fourteen people.

Seeking inspiration from sources further afield, Scholey then moved to the South West coast of Tasmania, where it was recently discovered he penned his “Forgotten” paper, “On the use of Wombats as lens hoods”. There then follows a period of time where we have no knowledge of his whereabouts. All that we know is, some 74 years later, he returned to the public eye, sporting a new beard, having learned from some shadowy source how to plot tone curves using nothing but a dazed squirrel.

Real Name: Mark Scholey AKA Pappy, Papman and lots of other not so nice ones.

Artistic Influences: Tony Hart. Wolf from Gladiators.

Favourite Food: Beer.

Favourite Drink: More beer.

Likes: Beer, Coffee and photography (surprisingly)

Dislikes: Discombobulation

Is here because…: To add beard appeal.

Adrian Wilson:

As a child, Adrian always dreamt of being able to replace his body parts with custom-made limbs made from Lego. Following a tragic accident during experimental surgery involving his pet rabbit and a set of “three-er” blocks, Adrian soon realised that major surgery was best left to the professionals.