“First, light. Everything else follows, for light is the language of photography as well as it’s raw material. As a poet uses words, so a photographer uses light.”
Joe Cornish – First Light
The Photographer
I'm a Lisbon based landscape, travel and fine art photographer. I also shoot weddings and events, which you can find out about by visiting my Wedding Photography website
I’ve always loved nature and traveI, but a love of photography developed much later when I realised I wanted to take better pictures of the places I saw, rather than just snapshot records.
As I attempted to learn more about the art of taking pictures I reaized that my heart lay in landscape photography, and now it is this love of nature, of landscape, and a desire to capture the beauty of our surroundings that drives me to pick up my camera.
The feeling of awe we get from the planet is what I want to express in my pictures. I aim to show the soul of the landscape, to communicate the way it can make us feel.
I’m particularly inspired by the work of such brilliant photographers as Charlie Waite, Art Wolfe and above all, the genius of Joe Cornish and Galen Rowell.
Travel is another fascination of mine, and in the various different places I visit, I always hope to really capture the feel and spirit of the places and the people who inhabit them. My inspiration here comes from the work of photographers Peter Eastway, David Noton and Steve McCurry, and the way their images shows the soul of the places they photograph.
I’ve come to realise that photography is a personal journey, and I’m still only at the beginning. There’s always going to be so much more to learn and it’s a journey that will take me to many parts of the globe and one that I’ll be travelling for the rest of my life....
The Photographs
I currently shoot with a Nikon D3 dSLR, along with various lenses including the Nikkor 17-35 f/2.8 IF ED and the Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5 ED VR.
I also occasionally shoot film with a Nikon FE2 and a 50mm f/1.8
Many of the images on this site were shot with a Nikon D80.
I principally use Lee ND graduated filters, and Hoya circular filters for landscape work, along with a Gitzo Mountaineer carbon fibre tripod and ball head.
I shoot in RAW format and post process in Nikon Capture NX2, a great piece of software.
I’m often asked about the techniques I use to achieve some of the effects I have in my images, people often wonder if it’s “digital trickery”.
I actually use very little post-processing in my images, and the techniques I apply are limited to things like small adjustments of contrast, saturation and white balance - techniques that have been prevalent in film and analogue capture for 50 years.
I prefer to get as much of my photography right “in camera” as possible.
I often use very long exposures to create certain effects in the water or sky, and while I do use (like every landscape photographer) neutral density filters and graduated filters to hold back light, I never use coloured filters, preferring to shoot when the light and conditions are at their best.
While I don’t strive for complete reality in every shot I take, I don’t believe in photo-manipulation in post-processing either.
Cameras
Nikon D3
Nikon FE2
Lenses
Nikkor 17-35 f/2.8 D IF ED
Nikkor 80-400 f/4.5 ED VR D
Nikkor 24-85 f3.5 D
Nikkor 50 f1.8 D
Nikkor 28-105 f3.5 D Macro
Other Equipment
Gitzo Mountaineer tripod & centre ball head
Manfrotto 190 XPro B tripod & ball head
Lee neutral density hard & soft graduated filters
Singh-Ray reverse neutral density graduated filter
Hoya Pro 1 circular polarizer
Hoya ND400 neutral density
Nikon SB600 Speedlight
Lowepro Primus AW bag
Lowepro Toploader 75 AW bag
Sandisc Extreme IV 4gb CF cards
Ilford 400 film
“Perfect your technique, and then put yourself at the mercy of inspiration”
Zen maxim
Andy Mumford October 2008
