Personal Details
Hometown: Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England

Qualifications
Northallerton College, England
NCFE Level 2 Photography
University of Teesside, England
UCAPD Computer Studies
UCPD Computer Studies
UCPD eBusiness Applications
San Jacinto College, USA
Associate of Arts Degree: Business Administration

My photographic adventure almost didn't happen. I bought my first ever camera in 2002. Within weeks it was dropped on a night out by a well known local cricketer who was supposed to have the safest hands in town. After that my images were blurrier than the walk home from the local night club after 3 pints of Stella!!! The camera went in the bin.

It wasn't until late 2004 that I was inspired to buy another camera, a Nikon D70. I'd been working on a project to put 10,000 images taken by Bertram Unne of North Yorkshire on the internet. Over the next four months I took over 3,500 images of the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver Island and the Scottish Highlands. I was pleased with the images and yet also disappointed. This turned out to be the catalyst of my photography career. I really wanted to learn how to make my images better. I read a lot of magazines and books and bought the best equipment I could get. After each shoot I would look at the image and see how I could improve it. I also discovered the work of Joe Cornish. Joe's work is a lesson in passion, patience and vision. The photographic insight he has given me has been nothing short of inspirational. I also love the work of Colin Prior. His views of the Scottish Highlands are superb.

Mostly I am self taught and have learnt by making errors and learning how to correct them. Over the last year I have been studying an NCFE Level in Photography at Northallerton College. I've had great support through this from Denis Dunning. His lectures and demo's have helped boost my knowledge in photography and also the history of car thefts in Stockton on Tees. To be honest I’m not sure which subject I know the most on now!!

Photographic Facts
Favourite Photographer: Joe Cornish
Favourite Locations: Falling Foss, Roseberry Topping and Sutton Bank (North Yorkshire Moors), Keswick (Lake District), Glencoe (Scotland), Trotternish Ridge (Isle of Skye), Ribblesdale (Yorkshire Dales)
Ambition: To continue to learn and improve my images
Favourite Image: Roseberry Topping from Cliff Ridge, late summer
Worst Photo Shoot: Falling into Lochan Nah Achlaise on Rannoch Moor, Glencoe not once but two days in row. Lost my welly in the mud, used up all my clothing for the trip and had to continue in just a pair of shorts and t-shirt. The midges just ripped me to shreds!!!!

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I’d walked many miles in the Yorkshire Dales and North Yorkshire Moors and always wished that I had a camera to record what I saw. The day before I was going to explore the Scottish Highlands and Canada for a few months I finally made the purchase, a brand new Nikon D70. I was really excited I could finally capture what I had seen. Over the next 3 months the D70’s shutter was being constantly pressed capturing over 3,500 images. My technique was basic, stick it on auto, point and shoot. When I returned home I was both amazed and disappointed with the results. The image quality was excellent but I was noticing that at times my camera didn’t record what I thought I saw.

I used this as a catalyst to learn, I wanted to make my images look exactly as I see them. This desire is what serves as my motivation towards my photography. Using magazines as a source I invested in sets of filters, new lenses and a few books and I went out trying to practice what I had learnt. After each photography session I would review every image and analyze what I could have done to make it better. Sometimes I would come home with nothing, but I stuck to it. I discovered the work of Joe Cornish and Colin Prior around this time. I was particularly amazed with Joe’s work but more importantly with his ethics. I learned so much from listening to a few of his talks and was keen to try out some of his suggestions. Over the next few months I noticed that results were improving and I thought I might be on the right track here.

One of the most important things I learnt was to plan. Rather than just turn up and see what’s there as I had done, I now use maps, sun position software, tide-tables and web cam’s to ensure that I am going to get something that works. Another important concept that I discovered was the use of light. Joe’s work is a master class in use of light and made me go out at those times to see it for myself. I was amazed at how a landscape is transformed by late evening or early morning light. It really is magical and it is this combination of light and my desire to capture exactly what I see that motivates me.

I am not interested in using the computer to make up for my mistakes. I want it be right in the camera. I have seen many images which are two shots blended into one, one image shot for recording the sky and another for the foreground, for example a sky shot in Redcar and a foreground shot in the Dales. Sometimes you would not even know if nobody had told you but all this does is make the general public suspicious of an image’s integrity. As the use of computers increases people become conscious of the tricks a photographer can use to manipulate an image. It is one of the first questions they ask when they see an image. I have experimented with manipulation but I feel that I am not at ease if I know that an image is not displayed as it was captured. I recognized that the only way I will prove myself as a photographer and continue to develop is to get things right in the camera. For this reason I am keen to avoid any manipulation and see the computer as just a method of getting the image from the camera to the printers.

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Equipment
Camera: Nikon D80 (10.2mp)
Lenses: Nikon 12-24mm DX, Nikon 17-55mm DX
Filters: Cokin X-Pro, Neutral Density Graduated, Neutral density, Circular Polariser and UV.
Tripod: Manfrotto 055 Pro B with 804RC2 Three Way Head
Additional: 80gb iPod for storing images when needed, Camera remote control, lots of cables and spare batteries.
Hardware: G5 Power Mac with 1 Terabyte of storage
Software: Nikon Picture Project, Nikon Capture, Adobe Photoshop Elements, SunPath, Mr Tides X

My images are always shot in Manual Mode and also in RAW format. The RAW format captures the image as it sees it on the sensor and is the most flexible for a photographer. The camera settings make no enhancement to the image; sharpening, saturation etc are all turned off. On returning home images are uploaded from the camera or iPod if I have taken more than my compact flash cards can hold. Each image is imported into Picture Project and the IPTC metadata added. I record descriptions, titles and keywords so that I can easily find an image and remember and special circumstances behind it. I also use Picture Project to run a slideshow of all the images taken in this session. I review them one by one and any that I think are useful are tagged. I do not edit any images using Picture Project and open any tagged images into Nikon Capture.

The reason I use Nikon Capture for editing and not a third party such as Photoshop is that I feel using Nikon’s software seems to take advantage of the camera’s features better as the software has been written to do that. A third party editor can not leverage some of these camera features. Apple’s Aperture is one piece of software that offers the possibility of changing my workflow, however there still some limitations with it but it is getting better.

I make four standard edits in Capture. I adjust the sharpening to usually medium high and saturation to enhance. I will also adjust the photo effects and color boost slightly if needed. I may also need to rotate the image slightly if my contact lenses have let me down and the horizon is wonky. I do not touch curves, d-lighting or any other editing command. The images are then saved as an 8-bit TIFF file.

The next step is to open the TIFF file in Photoshop Elements for the sole purpose of removing any dust spots that are in the image. Anyone familiar with digital will know that anytime you change lenses dust will enter the body and attach itself to the sensor. Despite all efforts to keep the sensor clean there will be some spots just where you don’t want them. Photoshop Elements contains a tool called the healing brush. I use this tool for ease of use. Nikon’s Capture does offer a dust removal tool however it is long winded and does not work 100% of the time. If I need to resize the image for a particular client I will also use Photoshop Elements to take advantage of the bi-cubic interpolation it offers. The TIFF is then re-saved and that is it. All images are backed up on a second hard drive and also a DVD.

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