About The Photography
I am completely self taught, with no training in photography whatsoever. I began my journey in photography many years ago, as a result of a passion for exploring the great outdoors, observing it's wild inhabitants and a strange love of being out in bad weather. Having always been a keen artist anyway, these passions inevitably manifested themselves through this medium, where i discovered i could marry them both together.
Being able to create a visual representation of where i had been and what i had seen in a creative manner only served to give more purpose to my wanderings in the countryside and cause to go further afield.
I started out with film, buying my first 35mm SLR back in 2002 and fumbling around with its settings for quite some time. Before that i had only ever used an automatic. I made the switch to digital about 3 years later.
Today, i always shoot in RAW, now using a Canon 5D2 and a Canon 17-40 f/4L with Lee filters for almost all my landscape work. The wildlife shots are done with a Canon 40D and various different length lenses.
Most of the time, my photos require a lot of pre planning, research and are dependent on the weather and time of year. Some though, are ‘right time, right place shots’, where i have simply slung my gear in a rucksack and headed out for a good long stomp in the fresh air, with no real idea in mind.
Dawn & Dusk are obviously the classic times to for landscapoe photography, when the light can be at it's most vivid and spectacular. It is especially good for capturing moments when wildlife are at their most relaxed. But, there's also alot to be said for gloomy grey skies too, or azure skies with white fluffy clouds.
Every type of weather and landscape holds some interesting imagery locked up inside it, the challenge for me is trying to find a way to ease it out. Most photographers can take a colourful, dramatic shot at the beginning or end of the day, but finding an interesting composition or using timing that will create something worth looking on a drab grey day is something else entirely. Sometimes i will return time and time again to the same place to try to get a shot that i have in my minds eye.
All my images go through some sort of post processing in Photoshop CS5, where they are brought to a standard i am happy with. I never digitally add any elements to my work, or stage components to create a better composition. All images are of the scene or creatures as i find them. I also never use HDR either, partly because i don't like the effect and partly because i'm no good at it!
I pride myself in getting everything as right as possible 'in camera' at the time of exposure, and still get an immense buzz from capturing something that i feel was worth the sometimes huge effort to go out and get.
Being able to create a visual representation of where i had been and what i had seen in a creative manner only served to give more purpose to my wanderings in the countryside and cause to go further afield.
I started out with film, buying my first 35mm SLR back in 2002 and fumbling around with its settings for quite some time. Before that i had only ever used an automatic. I made the switch to digital about 3 years later.
Today, i always shoot in RAW, now using a Canon 5D2 and a Canon 17-40 f/4L with Lee filters for almost all my landscape work. The wildlife shots are done with a Canon 40D and various different length lenses.
Most of the time, my photos require a lot of pre planning, research and are dependent on the weather and time of year. Some though, are ‘right time, right place shots’, where i have simply slung my gear in a rucksack and headed out for a good long stomp in the fresh air, with no real idea in mind.
Dawn & Dusk are obviously the classic times to for landscapoe photography, when the light can be at it's most vivid and spectacular. It is especially good for capturing moments when wildlife are at their most relaxed. But, there's also alot to be said for gloomy grey skies too, or azure skies with white fluffy clouds.
Every type of weather and landscape holds some interesting imagery locked up inside it, the challenge for me is trying to find a way to ease it out. Most photographers can take a colourful, dramatic shot at the beginning or end of the day, but finding an interesting composition or using timing that will create something worth looking on a drab grey day is something else entirely. Sometimes i will return time and time again to the same place to try to get a shot that i have in my minds eye.
All my images go through some sort of post processing in Photoshop CS5, where they are brought to a standard i am happy with. I never digitally add any elements to my work, or stage components to create a better composition. All images are of the scene or creatures as i find them. I also never use HDR either, partly because i don't like the effect and partly because i'm no good at it!
I pride myself in getting everything as right as possible 'in camera' at the time of exposure, and still get an immense buzz from capturing something that i feel was worth the sometimes huge effort to go out and get.
