In Russell's early school years he was shown an un-used school darkroom. In the dusty old room he and a few friends found  B/W enlargers not used in years, expired photographic paper and the chance of learning about photography and printing. The camera club had been re-invented. Years later, he enrolled at college to study a 3 year commercial photographic diploma. Visual communication, in particular, the world wide web and its technologies, has also grabbed his attention. In 1998 Russell purchased his first computer and has been learning new things ever since.

As Russell was growing up and starting to take note of the world around him, he can remember as a kid on family holidays shouting out 'take a picture' when something of interest came along. The family owned an old Canon with 'screw in style' lenses unlike clip in type today, and as soon as he was old enough he was using it himself. From an early age, Russell understood the value of capturing an image on film and when he  stumbled on the old darkroom in the school he remembers it as an instance that "made sense". The mechanical process of taking a picture and watching it appear in the liquid bath of rancid chemistry was an inspiring moment: something that he will never forget. The action of recording an image and preserving it in an instant and in almost life-like qualities is still amazing to him today.