I have been a photographer for many years. I am drawn to making photographs of things that are challenging or difficult to capture (astrophotography, extreme macro, ferrofluid structures etc). Since the first of the lockdowns I have been buying and using a series of 1960s - 1990s research microscopes. These have been configured with polarising filters, and homemade and taped and glued photo tubes and adapters, and used to allow my camera to capture the wonders of the shapes, patterns and wild colours of crystals of various substances (often sugar alternative sweeteners) in polarised light. After refining the process, and being recommended endlessly that I should have an exhibition or make a book, this project has evolved from an interesting photographic path into a proper artistic foray. A commercial gallery in London offered to show 16 large Chromaluxe printed images in a successful joint exhibition called Polychromo in Notting Hill, London in March 2023. Even more exciting, my photographs won Fine Art Photographer of the Year in the International Photography Awards 2023. It was selected as one of 22 category winners from a total of 260,000 photographs submitted to the competition. These abstract colourful photographs are the result of a transformation from a hobby within a hobby into a serious artistic exploration