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I got interested in photography when I was nine. I started noticing wonderful
photographs around me. One shot in particular - the cover of the Pink Floyd
album Animals, with the inflatable pig over Battersea power station, really
grabbed my attention. I was mesmerised by the fantastic light over the
cityscape. When I started comprehensive school, I joined the the photography
club and was given a Yashica SLR that I used for years until it literally fell
apart. After school, however the responsibilities of a job, a mortgage and then
a growing family meant I was shooting little more than snapshots for the next 17
years.
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Mendip Hills, Somerset. “A picture of contrasting colours
for me - the warm yellow light on one side of the wall and the cool blue the
other." Nikon D2X with a 12-24mm lens and 0.6 ND grad 1/5 second at f/11, ISO
100.
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My interest was rekindled when I was given a book on digital
photography for Christmas in 2003. This led to the purchase of a Nikon D70. With
the instant feedback I got from digital I was soon on a steep learning, curve
and started taking images I’d only ever dreamed of before.
For the past two years I’ve been dividing my time between my
photography and my IT job, in that time I’ve been building up a portfolio,
developing my skills and marketing my work. I am now represented by two image
libraries and I am on the verge of signing up to a third. As well as selling
stock and contributing to magazines, I sell my work as prints through my website
which is probably the most satisfying side of the job.
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Sandymouth Beach,
North Cornwall. “With two ND qrads I was
fortunate to get away with Just a little lens flare over the black rocks that
I was able to clone out." Nikon D2X with a 12-24mm lens and 0.6 & 0.9 ND
grads,
1/15 second at f/11, ISO 100.
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My hard work is starting to pay dividends and I no longer have
the time to hold down both jobs. So, in a few weeks time, photography will
become my full-time profession. It won't be easy, but hopefully the kids won’t
go hungry for too long!
I find pictures to take whatever the season. Spring and autumn
are the busiest times for landscape photographers, but summer and winter still
have plenty of colour to offer if you look hard enough. All the landscapes you
see on these pages were shot in February and March so there’s always
opportunities to get good shots.
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Westward Ho! Devon. “This is literally a few yards from an
amusement arcade and busy pub on the seafront.”
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The coast is my favourite subject and always has lots to offer
all year round. If colour is lacking I will look for shape and texture suitable
for black & white, something that I’ve been working a lot more on recently. Even
in the pouring rain, it’s worth venturing out as you never know what might
happen. Just make sure that your gear is well protected; I discovered the limits
of my D2X’s weather sealing during a hailstorm recently!
I love photographing new locations, but the first visit can
often be either over or underwhelming. Occasionally you strike lucky and
everything just falls into place, but it pays to become familiar with a location
to get the very best from it. Patience is important to landscape work. I’ve
often had comments from people looking at my work that I must get all the luck
to be in the right place at the right time to capture the light.
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Ubley Warren, Mendip Hills. “To get this cloud formation
in the frame the sun was almost directly behind me and I had to find a position where my shadow wasn’t going to be in the
picture.” Nikon D2X with a 17-55mm lens and a 0.6 ND grad. 1/4 second at f/13, ISO 100.
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I am very critical of my work and will return to the same place
time and time again until I get the shot I want. At the moment I'm concentrating
on the south coast of Wales as it is perfect for the low winter sun. My real
love is the south-west of England and I will be returning to my favourite haunts
in Devon and Cornwall very soon to work through a long list of shots I missed,
or messed up, last year.
I keep my digital workflow as close as I can to the old film
ways. I shoot in
RAW and use the computer to extract every last detail, much as
Ansel Adams did in his darkroom with his negatives. I draw the line at pasting
in a new sky; minor cleaning with the Clone Tool is about as far as I go. Its
all about getting it right before pressing the shutter. That said I have been
experimenting with merging multiple images to capture high dynamic range where a
ND grad would never work. I have also been creating panoramic images through
stitching. |
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Dunraven Bay. “The south-facing Glamorgan Heritage Coast
provides photographic opportunities all day long during the short winter
days.”
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I’ve not abandoned film and I plan to do some
black & white work to relive my early days in the darkroom, although I will scan
the negatives for output to inkjet. With this in mind, I recently bought an old
Nikon FM2 on eBay. Imagine my amazement when I discovered the seller was
photographer Rob Brimson who shot that inflatable pig over Battersea! Is that a
sign I’m doing the right thing? Time will tell.
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