About Pictolio

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"Who is behind Pictolio?"

Pictolio was created in June 2009, and is run by Debbie Whitley. Debbie was born in Wrexham in 1982. Educated at Darland High School, Rossett; and Yale College, Wrexham; she achieved 9 GCSE's, and 3 A-Levels, and then went into full-time work. She currently works for her local council, and has been there since August 2005.

"What equipment do you use?"

Pictolio currently operate using a Nikon D60 (18-55 II Kit). Along with the initial Nikon D60 kit, Pictolio also use a Nikkor AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED lens.

"Who designed your website?"

This website was designed and created by Leafish Web Development based in Wrexham, North Wales. Leafish provide complete website design and development, from early planning and design through to the final product and hosting.

"Tell me about yourself."

First efforts at experimenting with photography were undertaken on a Kodak Advantix 4100ix 200m (APS) camera in 2000. I still love the results this camera achieved with the ability to take three types of photograph: Classic, High Definition, and Panaramic. It was this camera that made me fall in love with photography, particularly after my first holiday to Norway (where I took 40+ photographs in one day, much to the dismay of my parents who were having to supply me with the film!).

My first digital camera was a Fujifilm Finepix E550 which I started to use in 2005. In 2009 this camera was upgraded to a Nikon D60, and this is the camera I now primarily use.

Having been brought up surrounded by cameras, film; video; digital, or otherwise, I had been saying for some time that I should look into getting into photography in a more 'serious' way to better my skills at what I enjoy to do, which is to capture an image that can be looked back on forever, or images that make people smile.

I appreciate all constructive feedback, so please feel free to get in touch. Also, please feel free to send this link on to your friends, family, or colleagues, who you feel may find a use for my services, or enjoy viewing my photos.

"Why 'Pictolio'?"

It took me a long time to decide a name for my photography 'brand'. I desperately wanted something unique that wasn't "Debbie's Photography", or any similar types of names that are so widely used when trying to brand a photographers work. I spent a lot of time searching through dictionary's and thesaurus' to try and find something that represented what I wanted to do with my photography, this being not to focus on one type of photography (i.e. wedding, sport, landscape), but to enjoy lots of different types.

I kept coming back to the idea of a 'Picture Portfolio', and also found the definition of the word 'olio' signifies either "A mixture or medley; a hodgepodge.", or "A collection of various artistic or literary works or musical pieces; a miscellany.", hence the decision in June 2009 to create 'Pictolio'.

"Why did you pick those particular three charities for your donations?"

As you may have seen on my Services page, part of my 'fee' goes to either one of three charities of my choosing.

Nightingale House Hospice does so much good work within my local area and community, and I have done lots of voluntary work at charity events of theirs for them over the years, and as such felt it only appropriate to continue to support them. The hospice provides specialist palliative care services, completely free-of-charge, to patients and their families across a wide area stretching from Wrexham, Flintshire and East Denbighshire to Barmouth and the border towns including Oswestry and Whitchurch. The hospice needs over £6,500 a day to continue to provide the services it offers to the local community.

Cancer Research UK has been in my life since I started full-time employment when I began donating on a monthly basis to them. My Nana passed away from ovarian cancer which had spread very severely when I was young, and it was something that has always been such a significant event in my life since. I hope one day there will be a safe, reliable, and permanent cure for all types of cancer.

Coeliac UK came into my life in 2010 when my mother was diagnosed with coeliac disease. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease, which means that gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) triggers an immune reaction in people with coeliac, and as such eating gluten damages the lining of the small intestine. People seem to know very little about coeliac, and diagnosis can still be a time consuming process as it is commonly mis-diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. Coeliac, contrary to popular belief, is not rare, is not a food allergy, and it is not only found in children. It is a life-long condition, symptoms can affect any area of your body, and eating any amount of gluten (even the smallest amount) can be damaging to people with coeliac.