A man who achieved his childhood ambition to become a photographer is to retire after 40 years in the regional press.

Picture editor Dennis Whitehead, (56), will leave the Eastern Daily Press, where he has worked for the past 25 years, on December 20.

He had always wanted to be a photographer, and after leaving school he joined the Basingstoke Gazette where he learnt his trade from John Hocknell - who now works at the Eastern Daily Press's King's Lynn office.

Six years later, Dennis moved to The News in Portsmouth, where he worked as a staff photographer for nine years, before joining the Eastern Daily Press and Evening News in Norfolk.

He has been picture editor at the Eastern Daily Press for the past 10 years, and during that time has seen the paper's photographic department evolve, most noticeably with the introduction of digital equipment four years ago.

Dennis said: "The photographers here grasped the opportunity to move forward with both hands.

"But no matter what equipment you are using, the quality of the picture is in the hands of the photographer - you've got to have a good eye."

Now after 40 years, Dennis has decided that the time is right to retire and is planning to spend more time with his family.

But he won't be giving up his camera completely, and plans to carry on with his photography as it began - as a hobby.

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