About
A few words about the Photographer....that's me!
I was born and still live in Wolverhampton, not your typical Landscape Photographers paradise......
I have always had a keen eye for detail and composition. At a young age I was always drawing and sketching. I even managed to win a colouring competition which I was very proud of! I always enjoyed art at school too.
Although I owned a camera from perhaps 10 years of age it was not until I was 16 that my fascination with photography really began. Ready to purchase a high-end film compact camera I was guided by the shop assistant towards a low-end film SLR instead. It was to be a fateful piece of persuasion! I joined a local Photography club and was often out and about learning the craft. Important examinations curtailed the learning process and when I started full time employment, with a lot of travelling thrown in, it put a temporary end to my focus on Photography.
The advent of Digital cameras rekindled my interest. I waited for some time before dipping my toe into the digital revolution. One of the main reasons I bought my first digital camera, (a 3mp Olympus Mju), was for a quick and easy way of recording images of my newborn son, Lewis. However, the interest in photography was well and truly re-kindled and I started to take more and more Landscape images. It did not take long before I became frustrated with the lack of control the Olympus compact offered. Then by fate, a relative dropped by with the latest Nikon Digital SLR (DSLR). A quick sale to Nikon followed for a D70!
This heralded the passion for Landscape Photography that I have today. Around 6 years later, working with a Nikon D200 and more recently the D3, the passion for photography is stronger than ever. I am always looking for that elusive photograph.
I own some fabulous kit including professional Nikon lenses, Manfrotto professional tripod, Lee filter system etc etc. However, it is not the equipment that makes a good image, but the time, dedication and ability of the photographer. The camera does not get you out of bed at 3:30am in the summer in the hope that the weather and light will be on your side, or in the cold depths of winter when you would rather be tucked up in bed! No, you need the spark, the passion to do that. Then you need the vision to see what will work once you are on location, the composition, lighting......Only when you have these aspects of photography in your "kit bag" does the photographic kit and the technical aspects of photography matter.
Often, after driving for hours following a very early start, I will stand on location, equipment set up on the tripod, waiting patiently for that decisive moment. I may return from a day out with a couple of images I am really happy with and on some occassions maybe even none. I rely on the drama and quality of natural light in my images.
Professional Landscape Photographers often refer to ‘painting with light’ and this is the aim of successful Landscape Photography. A quite simple and unremarkable scene can be transformed into something extraordinary by light. I always aim to be in the right place at the right time. Due to the digital revolution people often question the drama and even the reality of an image. All I can say is that I aim to replicate the view before me as honestly as I can. There is no trickery involved. The reality is often rather dull. A very early start, a scout for composition, patient set up and then wait…and wait for that decisive moment. My main inspiration, British Landscape Photographer Joe Cornish is often accused of being ‘lucky’ to capture the moments he does. His reply…..”the more time I spend, the more hours I practise my profession, the luckier I seem to get!
Mark Hughes October 2010