Homage to Nature Wins Gold Medal

Every now & then I process an image that really means something to me personally. Don’t get me wrong, every image that makes it on to this website is special to me or it doesn’t make the cut. But some are just more special - & Homage to Nature is one of those. To be in the presence of this awesome shoal of horse-eye jacks was a truly humbling experience, I genuinely mean that. The sheer number of these large fish was impressive enough but the way they move in coordination, in a sinuous, wave like manner, was truly beautiful. The diver in the image was not asked to pose, she just did it to be comfortable and take a few minutes to observe the scene before her. Once I’d finished processing it I sent it to Sharon & she was delighted to have such a brilliant momento of the experience. TBH I wish it was me in the scene & someone else had taken the photograph! It’s just been awarded top image in the open colour section of the Beyond National Salon. I’m chuffed, I really am.

The Museum of Liverpool

So here’s my first attempt at architecture in the Fine Art style. I’m really excited by this discovery of a new genre (for me) - it’s a while since I’ve been so motivated to get out with my camera. I’m busy researching new locations, both seascape & buildings, and planning trips. Love it!

The Museum of Liverpool

Trying a New Genre - Fine Art Mono

I’m just beginning a journey I’ve wanted to undertake for a few years now - the world of Fine Art Mono. It’s a flouncy title for sure, but to me it means creating mono images which are closer to art than reality.

I’ve always loved working in mono because I believe colour often distracts our attention. Colour might excite our senses but I think mono is more likely to incite emotion - and as an image maker that’s what I’m trying to do.

Mono images are usually all about gritty realism - I use it on all my boxing images for this reason. Fine art mono images often use long exposure & high key to almost do the opposite, to make things look dreamy or unreal. When applied to modern buildings it allows them to take on character & personality, to escape their mundane everyday location & be placed in some other worldly place.

I went up to Liverpool a few weeks ago & did my first shoot in the genre - you can see my attempts below. I’m going back to Liverpool & Manchester today to capture some buildings. I’ll let you know how I get on.

My Seal is the August Pin-Up in the 2021 RSPB Calendar :-)

Last year I entered a competition to gain a spot in the RSPB 2021 calendar. Naturally I entered my Diving Gannet image thinking it would stand a decent chance. You were allowed 2 entries & because I knew I had no other birds that would make the grade I put in a seal from the Farne Isles. You can imagine my surprise when I was told the seal had been selected… but the gannets hadn’t!

Anyway, it arrived in the post today - here it is.

Derbyshire Life Article 2

I was delighted when earlier this year Derbyshire Life asked me to produce a series of quarterly articles about my photography. The first one was published in May and the second one, covering my underwater photography, appeared this month. I’m really pleased with the layout in the magazine as it does full justice to the images which, for me, are more important than the text. You can read the full article here but it does mess up the layout in this PDF version - cheaper than buying the magazine though ;-)

Next time I will feature some of the iconic landscapes I have visited including Yellowstone, Provence, Cuba and several countries north of the Arctic Circle.

Derbyshire Life, August 2020

The Silverside Shoal

Whilst on a dive in Cuba we came across this huge shoal of silversides - literally millions of them. I tried to create an image of the sharks with them, but ended getting something completely different. Not everything goes to plan!