"I was born and brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland and still live there today. It’s a great place to live and you are never far from the coast, so perfect for the type of photography I like - and we get lots of clouds.
I am a self-taught photographer, but have attended a few workshops based around fine art long exposure photography. I had been interested and shooting long exposure for a year or so, but was not achieving the results I had been looking for so decided to go on a workshop with Michael Levin in Belgium back in 2010.
I've received a lot of fantastic advice and guidance at the workshop from both Michael and all the other participants, and it was then I began to approach photography differently and started to see the kind of results I was striving for."
"Ever since I discovered long exposure photography, I have rarely photographed anything else and seascapes certainly lend themselves towards this style. As my work became more and more minimalist with few elements, seascapes offer so many interesting subjects for this type of photography and it’s very easy to exclude unwanted elements and end up with the basic three of sea, sky and subject.
Before I found a love for minimalist long exposure photography, I shot just about anything and everything. Over time I was drawn more and more towards black and white landscapes and seascapes, and then progressed almost fully into long exposure minimalist work.
At present I love putting all my time and effort into long exposure, but who knows how things might change over time."
"I used to photograph quite regularly at least once or twice per week, but I’m beginning to slow down a bit now as I’m spending a lot more time on processing and being very selective with my images. I tend to venture out when I know the conditions are good to increase the chances of returning with some keepers, rather than go out more often when weather is so-so and risk coming back with nothing at all.
I really enjoy devoting a lot of time and effort in one go to photography, so I’ll go away on holiday abroad or somewhere in the UK and shoot all day every day for a week or two. Once home the camera will sometimes not see the light of day again for a month, but I’ll have a huge amount of images to go through and process from the trip."
" I have a full frame Nikon D800E DSLR, and a selection of Zeiss prime lenses from wide angle to medium length zoom. I use Lee Filters, both soft and hard ND grads, and their 10 stop filter the ‘Big Stopper’ that is almost never off the camera! Add to that a Gitzo tripod and that’s about it."
" I would say Michael Levin has had the most influence on the direction my photography has taken. His long exposure work is amongst the best around, and as I mentioned before I attended his workshop in Knokke, Belgium back in 2010. This was the turning point for my photography where I started creating images rather than just taking images.
There are too many other photographers who inspire me to name them all, but here are a few who regularly inspire me with their work – Michael Diblicek, Joel Tjintelaar, Noel Clegg, Giles McGarry, Rohan Reilly, Keith Aggett, and Hengki Koentjoro to name a few."
" I used to shoot a lot of colour, but much prefer the classic look of monochrome and the freedom working within black and white gives you compared to colour. When working with colour you are usually quite limited to trying to keep things looking somewhat realistic, whereas with black and white you can alter tones from bright white to dark black or anywhere in between in order to influence the look and feel of an image."
" Long exposure work suits monochrome very well, as you in essence are trying to create something that moves away from capturing the reality of a location and what the eye actually sees. Alongside the effect you get with longer exposures, playing with the tonal range adds to the surreal effect you can achieve through this type of photography."
" I would say Scotland and Japan are my favorite places to photograph. Scotland for the diverse landscapes and seascape subjects we have, and relatively speaking it’s not too great a distance to travel to go anywhere compared to some countries.
Japan was an amazing place to visit, both for photography and the people, and I’m keen to head back across for another trip later next year.
I want to spend more time touring around the UK, as there are lots of great locations I’ve not yet had a chance to visit. Heading back to Japan is high on the agenda as well, as I really enjoyed my time there earlier this year and am keen to get back there as soon as possible and explore more of the country.
Early next year I’m off to Canada and then Venice a few months later, so lots to look forward to!"
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