How a renowned former Yorkshire chef used photography to find an escape

He was renowned for running the renowned Ring O’Bells gastro pub at Thornton, above Bradford, in the 1980s, creating dishes to die for.

But the stress of creating near perfection, day in and day out, takes its toll so Paul needed an escape. He went back to his childhood fascination of photography for his little piece of mindfulness and found it worked incredibly well.

“It was actually through our dogs that I got back into photography,” he said. “Midge and Ellie are border collies and I got into the habit of taking photographs of them.

“They take part in relay races called flyball and I just adored taking their photographs. Then from there, it was sunsets and sunrises and nature. Foxes, deers, badgers, you name it. I’ve always had a love of nature so it made sense to take nature pictures.

“We go to the East Riding a lot for photography and we just love that environment.”

His images have a following on social media, especially on X where he posts as @Benbbirder. A heart scare a couple of years ago made Paul, 57, take stock and he became more passionate about using photography as his release from the day-to-day pressure of life.

“I just found it helped me to relax and unwind. It took my mind off things. It worked very well for me.”

He submitted some images to The Yorkshire Post and his dad, Jack, 89, a reader of 60 years or more, spotted his byline.

“It was magical,” said Paul. “My dad has dementia but for a time this sort of helped him to escape it.

“It was just after his wife died. I remember the picture that he spotted. It was a nice image of poppies which I had taken and just for a little while the dementia didn’t matter.”

Paul, who has worked in further education teaching the next generation of chefs for 23 years since leaving the restaurant business, said his love for photography took him by surprise.

“It was good to get away from everything else that’s going on in your life and just take in the beauty of the things around you,” he said.