About you
I was born and still live in Leicestershire with my wife and two children Thomas and Megan. I first became interested in the natural world as a young kid and I was always out and about looking for nature. I used to go fishing with my grandad who had an amazing amount of knowledge of wildlife and he passed it onto me and taught me so much. I kind of chanced upon photography and it just grew to an obsession. I am still as restless and as keen to learn more about the natural world some thirty years on and I don’t think I will ever lose that.
Tell us a little about your project:
I have a deep passion for seabirds and have spent the past twenty years visiting most of the seabird colonies in Britain. Over that period of time I have seen an alarming reduction in numbers as breeding success has been severely affected by a lack of food. It is one of the most harrowing sights to see young guillemots and puffins starving to death because their parents can’t find enough food for them. We can protect these island colonies with ease but the fundamental flaw is that we are not protecting their food source. The UK and its waters is one of the most important breeding areas for so many species and as a nation it is our moral obligation to protect them.
What are your aims as a photographer?
My aim has always been a simple one and that is to share my own experiences of Nature with other people through the images that I create and hopefully inspire them to enjoy nature for themselves. It doesn’t have to be an exotic creature to inspire someone it can be a common everyday species just seen in a different way.
What aspects of what you do are most important to you?
I have always stood by a strict code of conduct and that is to never put the image above the welfare of the subject and always respect that animal’s space. I feel very strongly about this and it should always be the number one code for any wildlife photographer. By working in this way the animal is at ease with your presence and this will show in your final results.
What is your greatest photographic achievement?
It has to be the day I got made redundant from my previous job and decided from that day on that photography was the career for me. The first two years were really tough but now I can see this being a long term career. I always dreamt that one day I would pursue this path but I kept putting it off because of financial restraints so this has to be my biggest achievement.
Where or what do you most enjoy photographing?
The remoter the better for me as I love the challenge of working in difficult conditions - islands, mountains, tundra, swamps, these habitats always draw me back time and again. But I also try and find my own little remote corner closer to home, photographing fox cubs at dawn or looking for roding woodcock in woodland glade at dusk.
What does ‘Conservation Photography’ mean to you?
As a wildlife photographer I make a living from this free resource and have not given anything back so it would be good to shift the balance. Most of my work is undertaken in the UK so I feel more akin with the nature of this island and therefore I really want to protect it. I want my images to grab people’s attention. This works best on a local level because it could be a small pond with a diverse range of species or a brown field site where nature has started to claw back. By showing people the beauty of these small places it gives us a better chance of protecting them.
How can nature photographers make a difference?
Nature Photographers play an important role in communicating the state of our planet be it on a global scale or a local one. I think it is now becoming more and more important for photographers to tell a story with their images. We can still show the beauty of nature but let’s also show the background story as well, the gritty reality facing wildlife in the 21st century
What advice would you give to aspiring conservation photographers?
Concentrate on your own patch. Nature is all around us but it is only hanging on by its fingertips and more than ever before we need to preserve it. A small pond may be thriving with wildlife but a builder or council official may not recognise the diversity that small pond has to offer. So work on that pond and produce the best images you can from it and then show people what they would lose if it disappeared.
