Hi, I’m Dave Riley - though most people know me as Kranky Dai, a nickname with quite a story behind it.

I don’t chase perfection; I chase truth. A fleeting look, a quiet moment, a spark of honesty — these are the things that draw me in. My camera is less a tool and more a companion, helping me listen to what life is trying to say when words fall short. I believe in photographing with empathy — in seeing people, not subjects. Each frame is a promise: to respect, to understand, to never take more than what’s freely given. What I seek is sincerity — that heartbeat beneath the surface, the place where light meets feeling and reality becomes art.

I was born in West Bromwich, where my journey began with a fascination for how things connect and come to life. I first trained as an electrician, learning not just about circuits and wires, but about the quiet poetry of light and energy. That curiosity led me into telecommunications — first with GPO, then Mercury Communications — before I eventually built my own company from the ground up.

Life, as it often does, shifted my path. Ill health brought my career to an early close, but it also opened a new door — one that led me back to creativity. Now, I find peace and purpose through photography and painting. With a lens or a brush, I explore the world around me — people, animals, objects, sports, landscapes — all the small wonders that make up life’s larger picture.

I welcome you to share in that journey, to see the world as I do — through light, texture, and emotion.
Perhaps, within my work, you’ll find something that stirs a quiet familiarity — a reminder that beauty often hides in the ordinary, waiting to be seen..