WHEN Luke Sheridan-Oliver is on the working end of a camera the world is a black and white canvas - and he prefers it that way.

He does use colour film but states: "I love black and white and if all anyone wanted was colour photographs I would advise them to get another photographer."

When he swaps the lens for a brush, that canvas chang-es, shading through all tints of blue, to cream and white, although he is experiencing a slight change of direction.

"I have always painted in blue but I find I am going a bit red now, although people are finding it a bit bloody. It's not always accepted."

His work is on show through commissions from businesses in London.

Now, with his wife, he is enjoying another swap in his life - exchanging the metropolitan and rather over-bearing lifestyle of London's sophisticated crowds and business for the quieter pace of life in a thatched cottage in Monxton.

That move is a bonus for Hampshire residents be-cause it has brought his interesting techniques in photography and paint within their grasp - for commissions, through the lens, for weddings and family occasions and for painting.

Luke developed his sensitive grasp of photography and eye for the unexpected, whether it be a formal occasion or a party or ball, while working alongside such famous names as Clive Arrowsmith, David Bailey and Terence O'Neil. He spent 17 years in London before longing for a change of scene as city life lost its attraction.

His portfolio also includes famous names such as David Bellamy, David Gower, Simon Rattle - 'a lovely chap' - and Vinnie Jones, 'a very nice guy. I spent a whole day with him'.

His easel and paints are strewn around a downstairs room in the cottage which means that one of Luke's pressing tasks is to find a nearby barn for a studio. That would make his life in the country perfect, although he confesses to a hankering to paint in the extraordinary light of Italy.

"It's unlike anywhere else," he says and one can easily imagine the beautiful canvasses he would produce in that setting.