Ian is the owner of HatchBox Photography Ltd and founder of MOFOTO (Facebook Social Media Group for volume photography) based in St Ives, Cornwall, UK. Ian started his working life at a high street photography business in Gloucester in September 1990 - The Photographer Ltd. The company did studio shoots and a few weddings, plus a small line in local school photographs. He worked as an office junior initially but quickly took on the office manager position with a partial sales role. It became apparent that there was an opportunity to expand the schools part of the business in the early 90s. As part of the sales team he helped grow the company exponentially from servicing around 50 schools to 1500 schools annually by 1998. In August 1998, Ian was involved in the sale of that business to Tempest - the largest school and nursery photography company in the UK at that time. Key to the integration of the businesses Ian went on to hold various positions in his 23-year career there, supporting and working on acquisitions, graduations photography, gowning, military photography and the launch of their yearbook and hoodie business. As Head of UK Sales, he produced and presented the company's national meetings, held annually across the UK to provide support and guidance to over 350 photographers up and down the country. Sadly, having formed many relationships and connections, as well as much knowledge and insight into a very popular and unique niche market for photographers, Ian was made redundant in 2021, just after the pandemic, aged 55. With the volume photography industry very close to his heart, and with extensive knowledge and experience, he set up a Facebook community group called MOFOTO, with the aim of supporting and assist everyone operating in the volume school, sports, dance and nursery photography market from seasoned pros, to small operators, fledgling businesses and startups. After a few months of coaching and realising that there is never a bad time to start for yourself, Ian decided to set up a rival business on the doorstep of the largest school photography company in the UK, starting from scratch in November 2021. Going from one school in 2021, to 26 in year two and 40 in year three, Ian now has nearly 60 accounts to service and has achieved a healthy six-figure turnover. Having previously investigated augmented reality technologies, in 2022 he met with some amazing people who had already developed robust and simple systems and workflows for delivering video content linked to the printed image, and he now uses that technology to help attract clients, increase sales, and win new business. So from his first day at The Photographer Ltd in Gloucester in September 1990, to the present day, he has been pretty much absorbed in the amazing world of volume photography, and he loves it.