Moving from dentistry to theatre photography seems like a pretty dramatic career change, but photographer Geraint Lewis, 51, can see plenty of similarities.

He said: "When I was a dentist, I used to take X-rays and develop them myself. You look at X-rays the same way you look at negatives you are looking for certain things."

He has come a long way since his 30s, when he got well and truly bitten by the world of photography and said goodbye to "open wide" and hello to "say cheese".

At first he took evening classes at Battersea College, while working as a dentist in London.

He eventually progressed to a part-time photojournalism course at the London College of Printing, which he followed with a full-time one-year diploma.

He said: "One of the lecturers was the theatre photographer for the Sunday Telegraph. He took me on a few photoshoots and in return, I did his teeth.

"I also did a week's experience at The Independent, which had just started, and was the obvious place to go for a photojournalist.

"They did not have anyone to do their theatre photography. At one point, I was running a dental surgery, as well as doing a full-time course and working for newspapers."

"I started doing shift work for The Independent. It was the best paper for photographers, so it was an interesting time to be there. I was always freelance the work comes and goes, but it is always there, somehow. I have never really struggled.

"Now, when I get two days free it's a bonus because I can catch up with paperwork."

Two years ago, Mr Lewis moved from London to Stonesfield in Oxfordshire partly because his wife's sister lived there, and partly to be nearer to his home country, Wales.

He grew up in the Rhymney Valley, near Cardiff, where he took his first black-and-white pictures at the age of 10 with a box Brownie.

Addictive "I was always interested in photography. I remember looking at picture books when I was a child and being fascinated by the photographs. It becomes a bit like a drug. The more you do the more you want. It is very addictive. Once you have started, you can't give up."

His portfolio is impressive, as much for the geographical breadth Poland, Russia, New York as the celebrities such as Al Pacino and Helena Bonham-Carter.

He says famous people are professional posers, in the best sense.

He added: "When I went to photograph Ken Livingstone for Newsweek, I wanted a London backdrop, so I had prepared to take him out in front of London Bridge.

"But when we went to the door, he said I'm not going out, I've got a cold'.

He obviously wasn't going to argue about it I had to accept it. I took the shot on the stairs, but he had to do some work as well, although he only had ten minutes.

"Part of the work is theirs they have to give you something and he's quite used to it. You get experienced at having your photograph taken."

Since moving to Oxfordshire, Mr Lewis has tried to build up his local corporate work so he does not have to commute.

He said: "I lived in London for 20 years. I like it out here and I don't want to travel so much now."

While he has helped out with jobs at Oxford college balls, he normally specialises in portraiture and reportage.

"I do the sort of photography that goes in brochures or annual reports. At a shop in Woodstock, for instance, I did some interiors and some of the clothes.

"The two areas that interest me are the fly-on-the-wall stuff where you spend a day at a business, and either formal portrait shots, or more informal ones."

He feels the digital revolution since he got his teeth into his second career has been a mixed blessing.

"There is so much more after-work with digital photography you have to spend hours on it. In the old days, I developed my own black-and-white photographs, but with colour you took them to a lab and collected them later.

"Digital photography is a double-edged sword really. It is great to have more control, and you are able to make things look the way you want. But I would still rather shoot film."

Contact: www.geraintlewis.com