Issue 19
Catching Up
One of the things that I most believe in is the compose and wait philosophy of photography. It’s a very satisfying, almost spiritual way to photograph. Life isn’t’ knocking you around, life isn’t controlling you. You have picked your place, you’ve picked your scene, you’ve picked your light, you’ve done all the decision making and you are waiting for the moment to come to you.
News from the Studio
As Autumn approaches, we are trying to squeeze as much sunshine as we can from the few remaining summer days here in the UK. Whilst I closed the studio this summer to spend as much time as possible with my youngest—who will be moving out this autumn—I had many valuable conversations about the business side of fine art photography. These discussions prompted me to make some changes:
I will open the print store twice a year, in November and March, to sell smaller-sized prints to collectors and private buyers.
During these months, I will sell prints in three sizes:
- Small prints are 10 inches long on the long edge.
- Medium prints are 16 inches long on the long edge.
- Large prints are 20 inches long on the long edge.
I will continue to offer a bespoke service aimed at luxury commercial and residential spaces.
The first change reflects the reality of my process. It takes me a long time to develop a negative into a quality print because I travel a lot, and each image goes through many iterations before I am satisfied with the final print.
The eagle-eyed will notice that I now offer smaller-sized prints via the store, whilst leaving the bespoke service intact. This allows me to differentiate the products I offer to private buyers and collectors versus decorators.
With the boring stuff out of the way, I am happy to announce that I will release the Black Cotton collection to buyers this November.
In the Spotlight
After moving to Asia, I continued to visit the plains of Africa for many years. During this time, I photographed its people, landscapes, and wildlife.
It took me a considerable amount of time to develop the necessary fieldcraft, skills, and knowledge to photograph Africa’s wildlife. However, towards the end of 2012, I began to achieve the results I expected from my craft, which laid the foundation for the Black Cotton project.
From 2013 to 2014, I focused on animal portraits in the Masai Mara. This required spending countless hours on the plains, starting before sunrise and finishing after sunset.
Black Cotton—named after the soil of the land—is a selection of images from this period. Some of my favourite images in the series were shot during the blue hour, like this sequence of negatives of the hunting cheetah brothers.
Being in the right place at the right time and in the right position is crucial in wildlife photography. This is evident from the sequence of negatives shown above. My guide and I worked carefully to adjust our vantage point so that I could include the beautiful blue backdrop in the portrait without disturbing the brothers—all of this unfolded during a joyful six-minute moment!
This collection is significant as it was created before many of the Big Five became critically endangered and before the Mara became overcrowded with tourists. The images were taken at a time when it was possible to see multiple leopards in a day—provided your guide knew the land and understood animal behaviour—without a queue forming on the horizon.
Because these images are unique, I have decided to release them as limited edition prints so that they, like the beautiful subjects, will eventually become critically scarce.
That’s it – thanks for reading! As always, please feel free to hit reply and exchange your thoughts or to just say “hi”.