Sandra Starke Photography
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Welcome to my portfolio. I am Sandra, a photographer based in Birmingham, UK.
Photography has been my passion since I was a kid. I started with an analogue camera and film and eventually built my own black and white darkroom in the basement. In 2009 I finally transitioned to digital after moving from Germany t=to the UK. Since then, rather than doing silver prints, I have been learning to make professional giclee prints. Over the years I have attended a large number of workshops covering analogue techniques and darkroom, portrait and nude photography, photo journalism, composition, studio lighting, photography & philosophy and a monochrome masterclass at the National Portrait Gallery. My photographic library contains more than 150 books.
In 2012 I obtained a Diploma in Professinal Photography and in 2013 I was awarded the Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). Since moving to Birmingham in 2014, I am proud member of one of the UK’s largest photography club Smethwick Photographic Society and started entering local and international competitions. I am now volunteering as Smethwick’s publicity officer, including the creation of the club’s updated website and managing their facebook feed.
In my day-to-day life, I am actually a trained scientist. My specialisation is at the interface of engineering, life sciences and cognitive psychology: after completing a BSc in Biomimetics and an MSc in Biomechanics, I gained a PhD (scientific doctorate) at the interface of locomotor biomechanics and visual perception of movement and clinical decision making. This led me to run a 6-month project developing a game using 3D animations to teach anyone how to spot lameness in horses. The website can be found here: lamenesstrainer.com and the game is used today around the world by veterinary schools. I then decided to continue on the track of visual perception, since I had fallen in love with cognitive psychology. So I took up a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, working on visual perception and decision making as part of the European project SPEEDD (speedd-project.eu). On completion of this project, I decided to join a start-up business that is developing an electronic sight aid for people with sight loss, where I worked as the Chief Scientific Officer. Realising that small businesses get stuck without the right tools, I then joined Aston Business School, where I work today as a Programme Manager that supports small businesses.
In addition to photography, I have also started creating websites. My own page is here arion-creative.co.uk and here are some examples: