I love the process of ensnaring life’s little moments.
I seek to capture the true personality of my subjects and believe that in order to bring out that authentic character, people need to feel relaxed and happy.
In my book chilled out and happy people lead to better portrait photography!
Whether it’s a landscape, an event, a project based shoot or family portrait photography, the ultimate challenge for me is to capture the very essence of what it is that is flowering before me. It is something I enjoy immensely.
I aim to capture the beautiful, the intriguing, the gritty, the fun, the moving, the abstract… The moment!
What are the characteristics of my photograph?
Where people are concerned my style is largely based around a candid and reportage approach. Shooting from the hip and snatching those wonderful moments as and when they appear when people are off guard. This is definitely one of my favourite ways to capture images and portraits of people. Even though there is more control in a studio setting I still employ this same philosophy when working with models or indeed families. I like people to be in a relaxed space where they are just chatting and very much being themselves and I get the shots in the gaps so to speak.
Although studio images can be very beautiful, I am also a great believer in getting the shot out in the real/natural world, using natural or available occurring light wherever and whenever possible. There are some amazing backdrops in this beautiful world, both urban and rural and it is my preferred approach to head out there and get the shots in those amazing places. Portrait and reportage photography is exciting and hugely rewarding. I’m constantly searching to capture that perfect moment, whether it’s a glance, a mood, a colour, a smile or cry, or some beautiful madness unfolding out in front of me.
My landscape photography is a different kettle of fish completely in many ways, but the principles of observation are pretty much the same when looking for that certain image/composition. Landscape photography is very much about being in a place and waiting, reading weather, watching the light, watching the cloud activity and looking for a certain drama unfolding within the landscape. It can take much planning at times, certainly if you want to photograph something specific like a coastal scene for instance. You have to think about tide times, sun rise and sun set times if you are looking to make good use of that golden hour light etc.
It can be a very involved process, but also extremely rewarding when you get it right and the weather behaves as planned/predicted. That said, serendipity does play it’s part too. Having your kit with you at all times can facilitate this. When you are out and about in the world and some drama in the landscape appears before you like an incredible vista from some fairytale, the only way you will capture it is if you have to means to capture it. I always have my kit with me. Well, nearly always.