There Is Always Light
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
The flamingo has played such a monumental part in my artistic journey – I began photographing the bird shortly after discovering the camera, I was obsessed with their crimson feathers and sitting on the edge of their lake was a great escape from pressures I was facing at school. Photographing them became my therapy, and I began ‘The Flamingo Project’ with the intention of photographing them closely for a year.
Several years later, I am still adding to the collection, and enjoy the challenge of finding unique perspectives of this increasingly popular bird.
This photograph, one of my new favourites, was taken in early 2024 when I had hit a bump in the road – everything around me was changing, which is one of the scariest prospects for anyone living with autism, and so I returned to the lake, and my flamingos, in search of some solace, and they didn’t disappoint.
There is always light, you just have to know where to look for it!
The Big Boss
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
I have worked with dominant, adult male lions on many occasions but it is still one of the greatest thrills I feel in the field — it is the most humbling experience when, for a split second, he is staring into your eyes, and you into his.
When I shoot a tight portrait like this, I want every inch of the frame to be full of emotion and interest, the entire frame must grab attention. The light was perfect on that morning, there was so much texture in his amazing mane and in the amazing hair on his chin, and his powerful eyes glistened.
I had a feeling the light would stick with us for a little while, which gave me the opportunity to bide my time and wait for him to relax around the camera. After about twenty minutes, the light got marginally better and his jaw dropped slightly — I had the opportunity to capture the big boss in all his majesty.
I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of those teeth!
Double Vision
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
My love of patterns, order, and repetition heavily my day-to-day life, everywhere I go, I notice these things, and they naturally influence my work with the camera and with my subjects.
Every animal is beautifully unique, but I love finding ways to show of that individual beauty, but also play on my love for visual patterns, order, or repetition, it is challenge I embrace fully whenever I am sketching out image ideas or working in the field, and when I get manage to achieve it I go home a very happy man!
I love flamingos, they have been a key subject of mine for many years, and I am delighted with this frame. It satisfies my autistic quirks!
Alert
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002023
This is one of my favourite photographs from the entire wild horse project, possibly because it was a shot I had always dreamed of capturing from the moment we began the project.
The horse is a herd animal, they thrive when surrounded by their equine family, and I wanted to capture a portrait that spoke of that herd instinct. For me, it had to feature horses ranging in age, they had to look united, and I wanted their faces to be visible – it wouldn’t be enough to have them grazing.
We had come close throughout the project, and I had been lucky enough to photograph a few equine families, but I felt I had stopped short of capturing the exact frame I had in mind.
I had one final shoot left, in early September 2023, at a location I knew well and had enjoyed relative success at. I knew the ponies here were a close-knit family unit, and very protective of each other – this meant it would be hard to get a photograph of any young foals, they would be fiercely protected, especially when a man with a camera appears in the distance.
I positioned myself behind some hawthorn bushes, and let the herd go about their normal routine, hoping that I might have a moment or two. They had their heads down grazing on the lush grass for most of the afternoon, until something in the distance caught their attention. That gave me a chance to capture the photograph I had so desperately wanted to capture.
I hope it reminds you of love, of protection, and of the importance of family.
Run Like The Wind
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002023
At 6 a.m. every morning, unless it was raining, an army of ponies and horses made their way out from the edge of the forest for another day’s grazing – it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Amazingly, at 8 pm, they all made their way back into the forest to spend the night under the canopy. I noticed on the first evening that some of the ponies got a little overexcited at bedtime and would canter across the open expanse towards the forest.
I knew that if the weather played ball and we got some nice light the following evening then I had a chance at capturing this amazing moment. Sure enough, the sky was full of nice broken clouds at 7:30 pm the following evening, so I got into position amongst the gorse and waited for the spectacle to begin.
The light improved dramatically in the few minutes I was waiting, and at 7:45 pm the horses began their journey towards the forest. There were only four excited horses that evening, but that was all I needed.
Heart Of Stripes
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
Over the last seven years I have grown to be proud of my diagnosis and the quirks and traits that come with it — it hasn’t always been easy, in fact there have been many days, especially during my time in education, where I hated myself because I was different.
My obsessions (a key autistic trait) with our natural world and with the art form of photography, have undoubtedly saved my life on many occasions over the years, and given me the most incredible voice and outlet for my emotions.
One of my favourite traits, is my incredibly vivid imagination. I have loved the camera for many years, and my subjects for many more years, and I often imagine new photographs that I’d love to take, sketch them out and then try to make them with my camera.
I imagine and sketch many more ideas than I take photographs in a year, but it is a challenge I relish — there are some sketches that I’m still trying to turn into photographs years after they’ve been sketched.
This photograph was based on one of those sketches, and I am so proud of it. It took me twenty-two months from sketch to photograph — all you need is 1/200th of a second, but it can take a lifetime to find that 1/200th. Especially when you need two zebra’s to position their heads in the shape of a heart!
A King & His Queen
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
Relationships in the animal kingdom have always fascinated me – from the life-long love affair of the flamingo, to the complexities of the elephant herd, we could learn so much from the strong emotional bonds found throughout the animal kingdom.
There are few bonds as strong as that between a lion and its pride, every aspect of the prides daily life revolves around keeping each other alive and thriving, and I wanted to try and capture some of that bond in a photograph.
The idea has been floating around for a few months, it was a case of visiting the pride often, and waiting for the right moment that told of the intricacies of this most special bond.
Razzle Dazzle
Price range: £250.00 through £1,150.002024
Those that have followed my journey and my work for a while will likely know of my obsession with the zebra – my diagnosis my autism means I am a great lovely of pattern, and I enjoy making black and white photographs, so the zebra is one of my favourite animals to work with.
I haven’t worked with them for a couple of years due to the horse project – they are nervous creatures and so it requires a good amount of time to gain their trust, but last month I had the opportunity to spend a few hours in their company. We were blessed with good light, and the dark backdrop provided a perfect opportunity to make a photograph that made their white stripes pop.
It felt wonderful to work with my favourite animal again.