WHEN Jason Smalley was given a second-hand camera aged nine, something clicked.

He decided to join this together with his passion for wildlife and capture the beauty of nature for all to see.

But his hobby quickly turned into a career — and even before he left high school he was selling his nature photos to a number of commercial magazines and soon built up a regular client base including BBC Wildlife Magazine, Country Living magazine and Lancashire Life.

Mr Smalley has since had nearly 25 professional years’ experience in the field, and is keen to offer advice to beginners about his passion through new workshops at the Anderton Centre in Rivington.

In his next class, on Saturday, he talks about macro photography — capturing close-up images of nature’s details, autumn colours, spiders, insects and patterns.

Mr Smalley said: “I had my first dark room in my bedroom.

“I was always interested in nature and I wanted to show off what I saw when I was out doors — lakes, birds and landscapes.

“I started to sell some of my shots to various magazines before I left school.”

The 53-year-old, who lives in Anglezarke, first started hosting workshops 15 years ago with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, and more recently has found a new home at the Anderton Centre. He said: “I was brought up in Chorley and moved to the border of Anglezarke, which is between Chorley and Rivington, which is great for my job because it’s so beautiful around there.

“I wanted to host classes around Rivington and was looking for a while before I found the Anderton Centre, which is perfect for my workshops because it’s so close to lakes and woodland.

“My workshops usually are entirely outdoors, but at the Anderton centre I use slide shows in a classroom situation before we go out to give me a chance to showcase the images I’ve taken and talk about compositional techniques, for example.

“Although my work takes me all over the country, I choose to live in Rivington over anywhere else. The stunning and changing seasonal landscapes inspire me every day.”

To find out more about Mr Smalley’s workshops, or to book a place at his photography class, contact the Anderton Centre on 01257 484220.