I’m delighted to announce that the HMS Belfast ad campaign poster has won Gold at the Graphis 2025 Poster Awards.
Rose, who commissioned me to undertake the photography, won the award along with 4 Silvers, at the recent event in New York.
You can read more about the original commission and shoot, here.
Below is the winning 4 sheet poster, with full information, here.
Client : IWM. Agency : Rose Design. AD : Garry Blackburn.
I’m delighted to have just had work selected for the Communication Arts 2024 Photography Annual No. 65.
The winning photograph was made in Milford Sound in November of 2023, while on a trip to New Zealand’s South Island.
For many, many years I’ve wanted to visit New Zealand, and in particular the South Island, so when the opportunity presented itself last year, I didn’t hesitate.
There are a large number of iconic locations in the South Island and so in no time at all a ‘road trip’ was put together with the help of my good friend Chris Lewis, which I’ll talk about in more detail in a future blog post.
Of course Fiordland was a key segment of the trip, and in particular Milford Sound.
I’ll be honest, when I finally arrived there, after much anticipation, I was a little surprised at just how busy it was. It was not at all what I was hoping to experience. But… after 16:00, when the tourists head home, a wonderful calm descends over the place and you feel quite alone. The same thing occurs at dawn, as the tourists don’t descend until around 11:00. There is a magic and a peace to the place that leaves you feeling in awe of the cathedral like surroundings.
The photograph you see below was made at dawn, before the sun hit the top of Mitre Peak (to the left) and as we were treated to a display of low cloud and mist, which slowly moved through the fiord as the tide receded.
If you look closely you’ll see two female Mallard ducks standing in the shallows. One was feeding while the other cast it’s beady eye on me. As I was on a 4 second exposure I was really hoping I’d have a frame or two with at least one of the ducks appearing sharply, and fortunately I did. It really was a very special moment, in so many ways.
While the photograph works as a single frame, I wanted to create a stitched image of three frames, as I felt it encompassed all of the visual elements and would represent the sheer scale of the scene, perfectly.
This was easily (and quickly, using custom indents) achieved using my ALPA 12 STC with HR Alpagon 4.0/40mm lens and with three horizontal frames at 10mm left - 0mm - 10mm right.
With this camera the lens is stationary and it’s the MFDB that shifts. This creates a distortion free image of extremely high quality. I also enjoy the format it creates. It is wide, but it doesn’t ‘feel’ wide. It doesn’t feel forced, pulled or distorted. It feels to me, like I am simply standing there.
One last thing to note, and another thing that surprised me about Milford Sound, was the speed of the incoming and outgoing tide. Be warned!
Dawn at Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand.
“Milford Sound/Piopiotahi is a fiord in the south west of New Zealand’s South Island, within Fiordland National Park.
It has been judged the world’s top travel destination in an international survey in 2008 and is acclaimed as New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination.
Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world.
Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth Wonder of the World...”
Detail - A rather special moment frozen in time, during the 4 second exposure.
Our dawn set up, from the following day. Otherwise known as ‘set up and wait’
The photograph below also made it through to the CA shortlist, but in the end it wasn’t a ‘winner’
It was part of an exciting commission for the good folk at the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT)
You can find the full set here.
The front cover photograph of the EHAAT 21/22 ‘Everyday Heroes’ Annual Review.
I’m again delighted to have had work selected again for Lürzer’s Archive’s Top 200 Ad Photographers Worldwide 2023/24 annual.
It’s always a treat to have work accepted in to this prestigious publication.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have appeared in every edition of the book since 2008.
Below is one of the images selected, a variation from a commission by Rose Design, for the Imperial War Museum and HMS Belfast.
There’s more information to be found on the actual shoot here.
Below is the final image placed in the 48 sheet poster.
Client : IWM. Agency : Rose Design. AD : Garry Blackburn.
SEPTEMBER 1st to 2nd 2023
“Discover the world of photography at the ALPA SUMMIT 2023 in Appenzell, Switzerland - 2 days of inspiration, passion and quality.
Be part of masterclass workshops, and visit the ALPA Academy exhibition. Experience pure photography in the picturesque village of Appenzell”
September 1st
I will give a one day Masterclass, discussing my approach and thoughts on landscape photography.
We will also visit and make work at the stunning Seealpsee Lake.
September 2nd
I will give a one day Masterclass, discussing my approach and thoughts on landscape photography.
We will also visit and make work at Hoher Kasten.
Fellow ALPA Ambassador and landscape photographer Thomas Biasotto, will also be offering two masterclasses. One at Kronberg and one making work from a helicopter.
I’m proud to show this new work that was commissioned by the good folk at Rose Design, for an ad campaign for HMS Belfast and the Imperial War Museum (IWM).
I’ve worked with Rose Design over the years on some wonderful projects for some fascinating clients, and this was no exception. I’ve always had a fascination for all things military and naval and so this was a dream commission.
After a couple of delays, due to weather and bizarrely another warship mooring alongside, the shoot day finally came. A 04:30 start, was followed by 10 hours on a small charter boat bobbing about on the River Thames, patiently waiting for the right light and constantly manoeuvring to a point that gave us the precise distance and low angle from the ship.
As the boat was constantly moving I opted for an image stabilised DSLR, which we tethered to lap top. That way we could constantly monitor sharpness and precise angle and make sure we were filling as much of the frame as possible.
“Belfast saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during 1943 and in December 1943 played an important role in the Battle of North Cape, assisting in the destruction of the German warship Scharnhorst. In June 1944, Belfast took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings”
HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser and has a fascinating history. Built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, she was launched in 1938. She went on to serve for many years around the world. Decommissioned in 1963, she finally moored up on the River Thames near Tower Bridge and opened to the public in 1971. She became a branch of the IWM in 1978.
You can find a full detailed history of her here.
I would thoroughly recommend a visit to HMS Belfast. She’s basically a floating museum, where you can spend hours wandering the vast majority of the ship. It’s a fascinating and humbling experience. “Navigate your way around the rooms of this floating city, climbing up and down ladders to visit all nine decks.” You can find full booking details on the HMS Belfast page of IWM web site, here.
Below is the final image placed in the 48 sheet poster.
Client : IWM. Agency : Rose Design. AD : Garry Blackburn.
STOP PRESS - I’m delighted to announce that the HMS Belfast ad campaign poster has won Gold at the Graphis 2025 Poster Awards.
Rose, who commissioned me to undertake the photography, won the award along with 4 Silvers, at the recent event in New York.
Below is the winning 4 sheet poster, with full information, here.
“Hosted by my good friends at Capture Integration, this will be my third workshop in the Pacific Northwest.
The choice of location for the workshop was inspired by the simple fact that the Olympic National Park has such a diverse range of scenery and with the added bonus of some often challenging and dramatic weather, which is something I relish when making personal landscape work.
The grand Lake Quinault Lodge is a truly wonderful place to be based. Stepped in history and surrounded by beautiful landscape, it is the perfect place to unwind, relax and immerse yourself in a week of landscape photography.
As well as guiding and taking you to some stunning locations, I will also run daily master classes on many aspects of photography.
Broadly speaking I'll discuss and explore the art, mindset and process of landscape photography”
Below is a small selection of the locations where we will be working. You can find out more here, along with information on how I created the panoramic work.
Maple Glade, Quinault Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, WA.
Second Beach, near La Push, Olympic National Park, WA.
Merriman Falls, Olympic National Park, WA.
Below is Lake Quinault Lodge, our home for the week. Perfectly situated on the shore of Lake Quinault and just a short drive from many of the stunning locations where we will spend time.
The beautiful Lake Quinault Lodge.
I’m proud to be able to share some recent work commissioned for the Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) by Simplify.
I received a call from Simplify’s MD, Neil Quidington, to ask if I’d be interested in working with his agency to elevate the EHAAT photography, in particular the portraits required for their upcoming 2022 annual review.
We spent two days at the EHAAT North Weald airbase, making a mixture of portrait and reportage photographs of the amazing ground staff, pilots, paramedics and doctors, who are based there.
It was truly humbling to witness first hand what these amazing people do and to hear the stories of what they face on a daily basis. On more than one occasion, we would be set up to make a picture and then a pager would suddenly sound and the crew would be up and gone.
You can find out much more about EHAAT, including ways of supporting this vital charity, here.
Below is just a small selection of the portrait work that we made, with more examples to be found here.
Client : EHAAT. Agency : Simplify. AD : Neil Quidington.
I’m delighted to announce that I am an ambassador for ALPA Cameras and specifically for the newly formed ALPA Academy.
I have been an ALPA owner since 2006, when I first saw one of these beautiful cameras at Photokina, in Cologne.
After switching from film to a digital Sinar MFDB in 2005, I really missed using my well made Ebony 5x4 and Mamiya RZ67 cameras and instead was pushed in to using the much smaller and more poorly made ‘plastic’ Mamiya 645.
On discovering the ALPA platform at Photokina I felt a real connection with this beautifully engineered and well thought out camera. Over the years I have bought a number of camera bodies, including the 12 SWA, the 12 MAX and the 12 STC. Each have their own useful place in my set up and each bring something unique to the table.
I have always been vocal about my love and enthusiasm for ALPA and so it was a great honour to be asked by Hans Keist, the CEO and owner of ALPA, to join the ALPA Academy as an ambassador and as a teacher, a workshop and masterclass leader, and also to lead the very first ALPA Academy workshop in Knoydart.
You can find future ALPA Academy workshops, adventures and masterclasses here. Or simply sign up to my newsletter here.
Below is Hans Keist (second from left) with the wonderful group who attended the very first ALPA Academy workshop in Knoydart, November 2022.
Finally, here are some words from Hans…
“I am proud and grateful to announce the launch of the ALPA Academy which shall be a space for bringing passionate photographers together so he / she is eventually enabled to create in essence better photographs. Whether they be landscape, urban environments or portraiture, etc.
By means of teaching, coaching, sharing, exchange and practice we want to become better seers of the world through the lens of an ALPA camera - for owners of ALPA equipment, or those interested in ALPA, or those moving across to medium format.
The ALPA Academy offers a program of masterclasses delivered by group of selected ALPA ambassadors who in turn are well recognized in their particular genre.
The classes are dedicated to landscape, architecture, arts and portraiture and are delivered in nature, or elsewhere and meet the highest standards, reflecting the design and manufacturing quality of ALPA
equipment.
Masterclasses with a small number of participants shall be enriching for each photographer. Although they feature
technical education, its main dedication is to creativity, process, observation, mindset, planning, and to post-production'“
Hans Keist, owner and CEO, ALPA of Switzerland - November 2022
I’m very pleased to say that I have been asked back by Olaf Sztaba, the editor-in-chief of Medium Format to appear in their magazine again, this time as the leading interview.
In the interview I discuss many things, but here are just a few of the topics…
I discuss my career journey and the role that my landscape photography plays.
I talk about my inspirations, favourite photographs and locations.
I also talk about the challenges and joys of automotive photography.
I also discuss equipment choices and future plans.
Medium Format is a digital monthly publication with 100+ pages of premium and exclusive content.
It features Insightful and informative articles by the most dedicated writers and photographers in the industry.
It boasts one of the best photographic curation teams in the industry to collate imagery and provide a forum for photographic thought.
In-depth, bold, and personal interviews with the best medium format photographers, industry leaders, and thinkers.
Fluid and elegant design; ad-free and clutter-free layout places great imagery as a priority.
It is an excellent magazine and one that I highly recommend. I would encourage you to consider subscribing.
You can find them on Instagram too, here.
I’m delighted to have had work selected again for Lürzer’s Archive’s Top 200 Ad Photographers Worldwide 2021/22 annual.
It’s always exciting to have work accepted in to this fabulous and prestigious publication.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have appeared in every edition of the book since 2008.
Below are two of the images selected, from a commission for Land Rover USA.
Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Commissioned by Land Rover USA.
Agency : Spark44 New York. Art Director : Peter Cooper.
“It was back in the early 1980s that advertising copywriter and agency owner Walter Lürzer banged his fist down on the table and resolutely shouted out to himself: “If no one’s going to do it for me, I’m going to have to do it myself - for everyone!”
What he was referring to, back in that dark pre-internet era, was the laborious process of hunting out and compiling advertising campaigns from around the world. In those days, there were not many ways of finding out how products and services were being advertised in, say, America, Asia, or individual European countries. The first issue of Lürzer’s Archive magazine was published October 1984 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and today the title has over 150,000 readers worldwide.”
Rowena Crest viewpoint, Oregon. Commissioned by Land Rover USA.
Agency : Spark44 New York. Art Director : Peter Cooper.
Lürzer’s Archive are the celebrated creative resource for advertising professionals worldwide, has been offering a full set of inspirational tools since 1984: Lürzer's Archive magazine; Lürzer's Archive 200 Best Specials; the Lürzer's Archive website, plus their wide range of apps.
Since 2004, Lürzer's Archive has been publishing the 200 Best series, featuring a range of different volumes focusing on a variety of graphic design disciplines. Each carries only work by the best 200 creatives to have submitted to the respective volume. Titles in this series are published every two years. A jury specially convened for each volume selects from the work submitted the items they consider to be the best
Early morning at Salmon Cove. Commissioned by Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism.
Agency : Target, St John’s. Art Director : Kevan Kalyan.
The finished press ad.
Pleased too to have be considered as one of the six front cover options.
Full details of all those nominated can be found here.
I’m delighted to announce that the North Northwest exhibition is heading north to the city of Edinburgh, to Gallery Close.
The exhibition opens on 6th of October 2021 and will run for a number of months. It is also forms part of the gallery’s ‘Scotland The Land’ group show.
“This will be the second time the book has been available for public viewing since its launch at the Fedrigoni Papers studios in London in January 2020...”
As well as signed editioned archival pigment prints of the work, there will also be a signed copies of the award winning North Northwest book available throughout the exhibition.
The Cuillin from Elgol, Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides - October 2011.
The prints are made on Platinum Cotton 305gsm paper, a beautifully natural Acid & OBA free heavy Fine Art paper, which makes for a sensational visual experience. Employing 12 colour Lucia Pro pigment ink technology, the prints exhibit a stunning colour gamut and impressive tonal expression.
Each print is individually signed, numbered and embossed with Julian’s studio blind stamp.
The editions are made up of just 25 pieces.
Rum from the Bay of Laig, Isle of Eigg, Inner Hebrides - February 2014.
A ‘meet the photographer’ event, where Julian will be available at the gallery to discuss the work as well as the thoughts and process behind it, is planned for sometime in November, so watch this space!
North Northwest book - Signed Limited Edition.
The gallery is Edinburgh’s only independent photography gallery, and is situated in the heart of the historic Georgian New Town, midway between Princes Street and Stockbridge, in Scotland’s capital.
Gallery Close
4B Howe Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH3 6TD
PLEASE NOTE - For opening times and other information, please contact the gallery before making a journey.
The dunes of Luskentyre beach, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides - February 2012.
North Northwest book - Signed Slipcase & A3 archival pigment print edition.
The Sound of Taransay from Bagh Steinigidh, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides - February 2012.
Technical Information - All work in the exhibition was made on the following…
Cameras - ALPA 12 STC & Contax 645
Filtration - 0.3, 0.6 & 0.9 Soft edge ND Grads.
MFDBs - Sinarback eMotion 75 and PhaseOne IQ180 MFDB at ISOs 35 & 50.
While shooting in Alberta for Land Rover, I received a call from the Creative Group Head of Target, NL. He’d been following me on Instagram for some time and spotted that I was shooting in Canada.
Would I like to extend my trip and spend some time exploring Newfoundland? was the question… The answer was of course, yes!
Salmon Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador.
To cut a long story short, we spent 10 days driving across the Avalon and Central regions of Newfoundland, our winding route taking in a mix of historical and truly beautiful locations.
Fort Amhurst, St John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.
During our time on the road we had some early call times and often experienced wonderful displays of light and typically mixed bags of weather. We took full advantage of the drama that would often unfold in front of us. It certainly wasn’t all blue skies, very much like my work in Scotland.
Everywhere we went the people were hospitable and helpful, and everyone had a story or two to tell. There really is a unique and genuine warmth to this fascinating place.
Salvage, Newfoundland and Labrador.
We came across places with historical and romantic names such as Fort Amhurst, Cape Spear, Queen’s Battery, Signal Hill and Salmon Cove. And curious names such as Quidi Vidi, Salvage and Dildo (Yes, Dildo!)
Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Having spent time in some of the more remote parts of Scotland, Newfoundland felt strangely familiar. In short, I felt very much at home.
It‘s a place I would love to return to…
Dildo, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Client : Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism. Agency : Target NL. AD : Kevan Kalyan.
Greenspond, Gander Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Below are three of the finished press ads…
Having been rebuilt from the ground up, the Print Shop is now open!
It’s home to a broader selection of work spanning new categories and features a much wider choice of print sizes and formats.
With fresh work being added on a regular basis you’ll be able to get update announcements either on Julian’s social media channels or via the studio’s occasional newsletter.
The prints themselves are made on Platinum Cotton 305gsm paper, a beautifully natural Acid & OBA free heavy Fine Art paper, which makes for a sensational visual experience.
Employing 12 colour Lucia Pro pigment ink technology, the prints exhibit a stunning colour gamut and impressive tonal expression.
Each print is individually signed, numbered and embossed with Julian’s studio blind stamp.
North Norfolk salt marshes, Brancaster Staithe, England - February 2009.
“Much of Julian’s work is now available in the form of limited edition archival pigment prints. The new Print Shop is home to a broader selection of work spanning new categories. It features a much wider choice of print sizes and formats...”
Svartifoss, Skaftafell National Park, Iceland - April 2010.
Below are answers to just a few of the commonly asked questions, with more to be found on the Print Shop’s FAQ page.
What methods of payment do you accept?
We accept payments electronically. You can pay with your credit card and Apple Pay through Stripe, or if you have a PayPal account, you can pay through PayPal Express.
Do you offer framed prints?
Sorry, no we do not. Shipping prints framed under glass is both expensive and risky, so we leave framing to the customer, particularly given the personal nature of choosing from the numerous frame, glass and mount combinations.
Glen Orchy, Central Highlands, Scotland - January 2013.
Which countries do you ship to?
We ship worldwide. If when placing an order, you do not see your country listed in the shipping section, then please choose 'Everywhere else' from the pull down menu.
Packaging and postage information
We take great care in packaging our prints and books. Your print is placed inside a snug fit Polyester sleeve, which is then placed in a cardboard envelope, and then in to an outer panel wrap cardboard mailer. Books are wrapped in acid free tissue paper, and then placed in a snug fit cardboard envelope.
We ship using First Class Royal Mail and Royal Mail International Standard delivery for books and Royal Mail Special Delivery for prints. Please be aware that print packages will require a signature upon delivery.
Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament, London - 2013.
What exactly is a limited edition print?
It is a print of which only a specific number are made. After the edition has sold out, no further prints of that work will be made. An edition is usually dictated to by print dimension too, so there can be for example, 3 editions of an image, where each edition is of a specific print dimension.
What is a blind stamp?
A blind stamp is a colourless impression, that is embossed without ink onto a print
If you have any other questions, then please feel free to contact us.
Kalaloch Creek, Olympic National Park, WA, United States - September 2015.
Back in 2010 I was commissioned to shoot a series of ads for a pharmaceutical campaign in various locations around the world, including Iceland, Bavaria and Morocco.
While we were in Iceland we witnessed the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. It was an incredible event to witness, with the ash blocking out the sun and falling down on us like hot sand.
Many will remember that the resulting ash cloud brought European airspace to a standstill during the April of 2010, and cost billions of euros in disruption and delays. During the eruption, a no-fly zone was imposed across much of Europe, which meant we were lucky to get home, let alone get home on schedule.
It’s funny too what memories are made while travelling in foreign lands… For me, apart from the stunning and surreal landscapes, I’ll always associate Iceland with hot dogs and chocolate raisins!
Below is a selection of the personal work I was able to make during our down time. Larger versions along with other work made, can be found here.
The work was made on a Contax 645 with 35mm Carl Zeiss T* lens and Sinar eMotion 75 MFDB.
With regards to the ads themselves, for logistical reasons, we shot the locations first, and then shot the models in the studio in London, carefully matching camera heights, angles and lighting.
The blood platelets were created in CGI and then all the various elements were composited in post.
Below is a selection of the finished ads..
Client : Amgen. Agency : CDM. Art Director : Shauna Kealy. Post Production / CGI : Kai Bastard. Producer & Location Scout : Leonora Sheppard. Local Producer & Guide : Bui Baldvinsson.
March the 4th 2021 is World Book Day.
So, I’m running an #iphoneonly book and print offer. This time around I’m offering a pair of prints from photographs made in Glen Etive, N.W. Scotland, in the December of 2012.
‘Frozen River Etive’ was made while on my first trip to the glen, along with ‘Glen Etive Shed’ a picture of one of Scotland’s most iconic sheds, with its infamous bicycle, the whole scene covered in a magical layer of hoar frost. Sadly the shed has since collapsed and the original bicycle, seen in the photograph, was bizarrely stolen and then replaced by another.
The prints are made on a beautiful Platinum Cotton 305gsm stock, and are numbered, initialed and embossed. Paper size is 202 mm x 140 mm.
The signed book and prints are priced at £30.00, plus shipping to your region. To order the book and prints, simply click here and yes... we ship worldwide.
If you are undecided, then please don’t feel pressure… the offer will stay open until 100 have been sold.
Below is what remained of the shed in November of 2017, along with the replacement bicycle. I believe it has now completely collapsed.
A series of ads created to mark the 20th anniversary of the Lotus Exige and the launch of the 410 Sport Special Edition.
“The Exige Sport 410 20th Anniversary builds on the Exige’s unrivaled levels of handling and performance. This special edition of one of our most acclaimed sports cars ever will continue the Lotus ethos of being born for the track and bred for the road.”
More examples from the shoot can be found here. More information on the car can be found here.
Client : Lotus Cars. Art Director : Julian Calverley / Rhys Grant. Graphics : Rhys Grant
Back in September I got a call from Rupert Gale at The Road Rat.. “how did I fancy shooting another series of mountain passes, but this time in Italy, in the Dolomites”
The mountain passes of the Dolomites are truly breathtaking, so as with the previous Road Rat assignment in the French Alps, I wanted to avoid using a single super wide cropped shot, so I opted to shoot panoramics using the ALPA 12 STC, ALPA HR Alpagon 4.0/40mm SB17 and a nodal rail. This gave a far more natural feel and perspective to the images and importantly avoided the ‘pull’ of a super wide lens, which is something I’m not keen on.
The scenes before us were so vast that some of them required up to 12 stitched frames, which were later put together using Photomerge in Photoshop. The largest PSB file ended up at just over 30 GB!
You can see a small selection of the work we made below, with more examples of the evolving ‘Great Mountain Passes’ project here.
“Exquisitely printed on a mix of heavy gloss and matt art papers, Issue Six of The Road Rat is a beautiful thing. 244 pages (it weighs around 1 kilo) The sixth Edition of The Road Rat is something of a diversion as it features a theme — Italy. We wanted to something to recognise the suffering, way back at the start of all this, of a nation that, as enthusiasts, is something of a Promised Land. So prepare to learn the psycho-geography of Turin, the dining habits of Enzo Ferrari, the sheer brilliance of small Italian cars and a look inside the astonishing mind and archive of Giovanni Michelotti.”
For The Road Rat magazine subscription information, head over here.
The opening spread.
Passo Rolle. Highest point: 1984m. Number of turns: 44.
Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.
Passo Gavia. Highest point: 2621m. Number of turns: 23.
Passo de Giau. Highest point: 2236m. Number of turns: 55.
2020 started off well for me. I was working on a sizeable assignment in January and it was also the official launch of my new book North Northwest, which had just won two awards.
I was excited and proud of the new book and really couldn’t wait to start telling the world all about it. As I’ve always found marketing and self promotion a little hard, I came up with the idea of creating this blog, as a way of showing and talking about the work in the book itself.
The idea behind ‘I’m In A Wide Open Space’ was to create a dynamic, evolving space where I can house my landscape photographs, thoughts, work processes, stories and inspirations.
It was an idea that I’d been playing with for a few years, and simply hadn’t had the chance, or the head space, to start work on. It all made sense to me and I hoped it would also help improve my writing and understanding of photography.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic arrived..
At first I was in shock. All work was cancelled. How on earth could this be happening!
I then came around to thinking that the lockdown was actually a great opportunity. I was being given space and time in which I could write and craft the blog. This was perfect.
Then slowly but surely I seemed to shut down. It felt like some sort of mental paralysis. I was completely unable to concentrate or contemplate. I simply couldn’t think, let alone write. I started to doubt everything I had done or was hoping to do. I’d managed just one blog post.
Wind the clock forward eight months.. It’s now October. Work in some form has slowly started to reappear. But I’ve still not touched the blog. I’m still unable it seems to talk or even think about my landscape work. I’m stuck firmly in glue.
So I called my old friend Jack Lowe. He’s a man who’s work ethic and drive I admire greatly, and we talked for well over an hour. One key piece of advice, broadly speaking, was simply to start, and to take very small steps. It sounds so simple right ?
So that’s what I’ve done. I had hoped to launch the blog with a dozen posts, or more, with a fanfare on social media, but I’ve not done that. And it’s fine.
As an aside, but closely related to all of this.. I’m a big fan of Rich Roll’s podcasts and it was there on a conversation with Dr Michael Gervais that I heard the expression FOPO, which if you don’t know, stands for ‘Fear Of People’s Opinions’ This is something I know many people suffer from, but I have been quite shocked to realise its effect on me.
I’m hoping that sharing my work here and writing about it openly and honestly, will lift this cloak and allow me to breath again. I hope you’ll join me on my journey.
Finally I’d like to thank a few folk.. Firstly Fenton Smith, the owner of Concentric Editions, for his incredible patience and understanding. I’d also like to thank Jack for his timely advice and encouragement.
Working in Glen Sligachan, Isle of Skye - January 2017
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Range Rover and so my thoughts turned to a commission I received in the autumn of 2019..
Building on a previous commission for Land Rover, from the good folk at Spark44 New York, this road trip involved travelling to Canada to shoot the Range Rover Sport SVR.
The iconic route chosen took us through the mountains of Alberta, driving over 200 miles from Calgary to Kananaskis, with an elevation gain of nearly 2000 metres, taking in the Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada.
The resulting imagery helping to create a beautifully produced coffee table style book called ‘Elevated Drives’ It includes the use of special papers, inks, embossing, die cutting and hand drawn maps of the carefully curated and iconic routes that we drove. A truly crafted piece and further proof that print is not dead!
A quote from the book sums things up perfectly.. “Driving from a low elevation to a considerably higher one can be profound. From the physical impact a shift in altitude can have on your body, to the dramatic scenery and weather changes, these journeys can be epic experiences”
Below is just a small selection of the work that we made, with many more examples to be found here.
Client : Land Rover. Agency : Spark44. AD : Peter Cooper. 1st Assistant : Julya Hajnoczky. Producer : Reilly Saso.
2020 started off well, with a lovely studio commission for Lotus Cars.
Ten days shooting eight iconic sports cars for their 2020 model year range, in a car studio close to Lotus Cars HQ.
This shoot built on a previous commission which we shot in late 2018, which I blogged about here, where we composited studio lit cars, with various back plates of locations from around the world.
Below is a small selection of the work we made, with more (larger) versions available to view here.
Client : Lotus Cars. Art Director : Julian Calverley / Rhys Grant.
