It was great to get a chance to talk and answer questions about my work, at the Private View for my exhibition at the Guildford Institute last week.
I spend a lot of time on my own creating the photographs with certain ideas in mind, so being able to explain the thought process and the actions I had to take as a result of changes to the subject, as well as reliving how I felt at the time of capturing the atmosphere, felt quite liberating.
The Private View for my exhibition with Stephen Kinder, landscape painter, is on this Thursday (February 13th) at the Guildford Institute in Surrey. Here’s why… Read More »Join Us for an Exclusive Art Exhibition Event
I’m delighted to share details of my new exhibition, that will he held from February 10th through March 17th at The Guildford Institute, in Guildford, Surrey.
Another early morning and another sunrise shoot. This time I headed off to one of my favourite local locations, Chobham Common, although I went to an area I had not been to before. There’s always a risk in doing this as I went with no idea of what I would find, or if there would be anything worth photographing.
There was a certain amount of mist around, which is always a favourite subject of mine, but I struggled to find a composition that worked. Eventually I came across a large pond covered in lilies and, as sunrise was fast approaching, I opted to try and create an image from them.
The alarm went off at 3:20am, and 12 minutes later I was on my bike heading towards Bushy Park, one of the Royal Parks, to see what sunrise would bring. As it was Clean Air Day, I decided that I would use zero emissions transport, which meant it took me around 50 minutes to get there, hence the early start, to be in time for sunrise.
I mostly followed the route of the River Thames, from Weybridge to Hampton Court Palace, and one of the things I noticed was there are a lot of flies and midges around at that time of the morning! With it being dark, it wasn’t easy to see them, so my breathing was in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Only one got through!
Read More »Capturing The Beauty of Sunrise on Clean Air Day 2023One of the truly remarkable things about my Spirit Of Brooklands project, was the realisation that nature is incredibly resilient, and, when left to its own devices, could prosper after apparent destruction. You would think that the laying of 3 miles of 6 inch concrete, would bring an end to the chance of anything growing there, but as this photo shows, nature can break through, and even thrive.
Continuing from my previous blog post Sunset OR Light Pollution.
Once I had decided that I wanted to continue with my Spirit Of Brooklands project, I then had to work out how to gain access. Now most of it is publicly accessible, but the land obviously belongs to someone, and if I wanted to publish the resulting photos, then I would need consent from the landowner.
As we enter 2023, I realised that it was 15 years ago that I took the first photo that formed the basis of my Spirit Of Brooklands project.
At the time, I had just bought a new camera which was meant to be good at long exposures, and I wanted to test it out. The darkest place I could think of was a banked section of the former Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit, where there was no artificial lighting, so would be pitch black after dark.
Minimising my environmental impact on the planet has been something close to my heart since my early days, although the way I think about it has changed as we become increasingly aware of how much damage we are doing, and the ways in which we are doing it.
I now run my main commercial photography business in such a way as to reduce my carbon foot print, as well as reduce other damaging practices such as the amount of plastic used, and you can read more about it on my page about Running A Sustainable Photography Business.
There’s something wonderfully calming about being up and about as the sun rises over the horizon first thing in the morning, especially after the shock of the 4am alarm call! Sunrise is when nature wakes up and the sounds of the birds let you know that day is beginning and there is work to be done.
You must be logged in to post a comment.