Where did I begin?
Photography is a passion that came to me later in life, and if I was to be truly honest it was initially a means to end. I needed a reason to keep myself active and to draw me away from my sitting room. So armed with a second hand Canon 700d camera with a couple of kit lenses from eBay, and my old 2005 work van somewhat converted into a camper, I ventured out into the world.
Why Landscape Photography?
My first outings were walking the streets of Gloucester trying to find something that would attract my attention. I photographed a lot of the local street art and the street scenes, and paid a visit to “Light Up Cheltenham”. It was fun, but it did feel to me more like I was documenting other peoples artwork than creating something myself.
It was at this point I purchased my first tripod, and took it and my camera out on a dog walk through some woods with my wife. I found myself attracted to some sweeping lines and textures in a particular grouping of trees. The slower deliberate nature of fine tuning the shot was a relaxing way to switch off from everything else in my life and find focus. From this point on I knew I had found my direction in landscape photography.
As with all worthwhile endeavours I soon found myself enjoying the creativity that landscape photography affords me, whilst visiting some of the most beautiful places the UK has to offer. Photography truly does make you look at the world from a more intimate perspective. It asks you to take the beauty in front of you and highlight what attracted you to it using composition and light, and express how it felt through the editing process.
Where do I find myself now.
I am fortunate to live in the Gloucestershire area, so have the Forest Of Dean to use as my local playground. But it also has good motorway access; so Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and even as far as the Lake District are only 2-3.5 hours away respectively. So this is where I love to spend a lot of my time, it gives me access to a great variety of landscapes, woodland, seascapes, mountains and lakes.
So time and passes practice has become my eternal friend, taking me on a pilgrimage of learning and discovery where the destination is unknown. In truth there is no final destination, it’s not something you can complete like a video game and say “Hey! that’s photography done!”, and that’s its biggest draw, you constantly strive for as perfect as you can be at that point in time.
So where am I now? Well take a look through my galleries and you decide, all I can do is continue to try, and continue to grow. My hope is you enjoy them as much as I do, and I will continue to enjoy creating them. Thanks Steve.
