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A trip down memory lane this cold, wet morning in Manchester. In Italy a few summers ago, visiting friends in the hills above Rome in a hot summer, this was my amazing bedroom .
Once a hunting lodge, now a family home, this is one of the most serenely beautiful places I’ve ever experienced.
Alastair Sawday Go Slow books
My first big photography commission was for ‘Go Slow France’ in 2010, part of Alastair Sawday’s lush travel book series. The Paris editor called me and explained what they were looking for - I was absolutely buzzing with excitement. To see how I’d approach things, I was given a test shoot in Brittany - Chateau du Quengo, which has been in the same family for centuries - apart from the years of the French Revolution.
I flew over from Guernsey to Dinard, rented a car, and drove to Irodouër. (My first time in Brittany, and I loved it.) The Chateau was wonderful, as were Anne and Alfred and their huge Leonburger dog, Barrie, who led me to and from the lake on Anne’s instructions, waiting patiently for me whenever I stopped. Anne is an artisan artist in willow, and Alfred makes and mends organs. Their history is fascinating - they met in Switzerland, with music and sheep featuring in their story. It was a great start to a memorable summer in France, photographing, driving, eating and talking - with a few dramas to leaven one of the best experiences ever!
Manchester cityscape
This photograph of the Manchester skyline changes constantly - this image is now outdated. It was taken for a client involved with urban property management and has been used many times. I wanted the blue of the just-before-dark night sky to contrast with the strength of golden illumination, which was only part electric lighting - it was augmented by reflection of a dramatic sunset.
I was staying at Scarista House on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, and nipped out to the shop at Leverburgh on a dull late afternoon. At Northton, on the way back, I saw beautiful light and streaming cloud on the North Harris hills, behind animals grazing, the dunes and the grey sea.
This is an ICM (intentional camera movement) photograph, to emphasise atmosphere over detail. It’s one of my all time favourites, and shown here as a a diptych; two stretched printed canvasses, each 34 x 106cm, with white sides.
Snow: photograph
Snow doesn’t usually lie for long in the city centre, and can be a real pain for getting about. But wow! It’s spectacular to watch it comes down hard. Best done standing at the window with a cup of tea in hand though :)
This set of four are all printed on wrap-around canvas on cradled board, each 60 x 40 cm. ICM (international camera movement) images, they were taken in the Outer Hebrides, to evoke something of the magical feel of the islands.
Top left are hills by Mealish; top right the incredible Callanish Standing Stones - a sight, in the gloaming mist, that I will never forget. Beneath is the churning sea below Breanais, looking over to Eileen Mhealasta, off the remote far western coast of Lewis; and on the right, a streak of sunset reflected in Loch Smuaisebhal.
The Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides offers shifting views as the tides move in and out and the sand, the peat in the water and the reflections of the blue sky combine. This is an ICM photograph on stretched printed canvas, 34 x 106 cm with white sides. It takes me right back to the shore at Luskentrye, sitting with flask and sandwiches, watching the surreal scene unfold.
Luskentyre Bay, Harris: ICM photograph on canvas
I can recognise Lusketyre Bay, on Harris in the Outer Hebrides, just from the colours. The clarity of the water, the fast moving weather that gives an intensity to the sky and its reflections, the pinky purple of the peat coming down from the hills into the sand and sea… the colours look unreal, but they’re not.
This ICM photograph whistles me back in my mind to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
ICM in photography means internationally moving the camera to blur and thus emphasise the feeling - essence, perhaps - of the subject by reducing detail.
This image is printed onto stretched canvas, 107 x 71 cm.
A morning in the food market in Venice was a treat. So much to see, all so beautifully and artlessly arranged … and with quite a lot of unfamiliar items (particularly on the fish stalls, of which more another time!). These limes though, I knew about :)
They make a really striking wall piece! This is a 25” square stretched canvas print with black sides.
This image has won first place in the Beauty of Plants category of the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition 2016. It had to be one of my most memorable shoots - I was in New Mexico, USA, and the dunes really are white - they're silica, and cool underfoot even in the 90 degree heat that accompanied the 90mph gusts of the hot winds. The Indians use every part of the yucca plant, which has to grow tall and strong fast to outpace the fast-shifting dunes. This one, spotted when I was about the leave the White Sands National Parkwhen the gates were about to close at sunset. It stood strong with its seed pods empty - it had done it's job.
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