Thank you for inviting me – I’m very honoured to have been asked. As you know, I’ve been using a range of SIGMA lenses for a little while now and have been very impressed by the build and optical quality. The wide range of Sigma lenses also appeals – from the fast zooms to the small prime lenses. So, I’m looking forward to working closely with Sigma UK and having a productive & fun relationship.
I think those familiar with my work might describe me as a black & white landscape photographer and that’s sort of right. Being out in the landscape is my passion and experiencing nature is where I’ve always gone to lift my spirits & to re-energise myself. And it is true, that I primarily see the world in B&W.
But I don’t like to be pigeonholed – for first and foremost I am a photographer. A look at my portfolio would reveal a diverse set of images that includes travel, street, still life and graphic abstract photographs as well as landscapes (all in colour and B&W).
I’m always looking to challenge myself, to work out of my comfort zone (important proviso here – I draw the line at shooting weddings; I’m not that much of a masochist!). I consider this self-challenge as a vital part of my growth as a photographer – embracing experimentation has helped me to learn & develop. As photographic artists I think we should constantly strive to expand our knowledge about our chosen subjects, about photography and probably most importantly, about ourselves. For I believe that our photographs should come from within us – reflecting our passions, our prejudices, our emotions. Understanding what we want to say with our images and how is one of the most difficult aspects of being a photographer. But ultimately achieving this will result in photographs with resonance and impact.
Understanding what we want to say has to start with us. We are shaped by our life experiences and these influence our photographs; it’s what makes them unique. If we are true to ourselves then our image making will reflect our interests, what excites and moves us, the things that make us happy, angry or sad. I photograph the subjects that I have a response to – whether that’s negative or positive (but definitely not indifference).
I find that it helps me if I work on a theme or project. This gives me what photographer Ralph Gibson calls ‘a point of departure’ – a clarity of intent that helps me to focus my photographic efforts. My photography is usually based on an idea, thought, concept or emotion where the images are about something not of something. For example, a shot of a single tree can be more about loneliness and isolation than of that specific tree.
I advise my workshop participants to consider their response to their chosen subject and summarise that in a maximum of three words (so with the example above – ‘loneliness’ and ‘isolation’). The next step can be the hardest part of the task – to decide how to construct a visual representation of those words. Many say they have found that the discipline of this process has helped their practice considerably and encouraged them to make images that are more personal and therefore distinctive.
If our images are to be unique, then we can’t afford to be overly concerned with other people’s reactions to them. For their response will be heavily influenced by their own life experiences – something we have no control over at all. I’m certainly looking (in the words of Don McCullin) ‘to disturb’ or engage the viewers of my images but I can’t control their reading of my photographs.
I hope that my images ask questions (rather than provide answers), that they create a space that the viewer can fill with their own imagination and interpretations. In this way I want my photographs to be an invitation to interact with them.
I recently came across a pertinent and thought-provoking quote by American photographer, Todd Hido: –
“It’s not my job to create meaning but to charge the air so that meaning can occur”.
I think it is important to stress that my primary aim is to produce an interpretation of a subject, not a factual representation. Without wanting to sound pretentious, my goal is to make art (I don’t think I’d make a great crime scene photographer!). Mood, emotion, feelings are my drivers (what Ansel Adams referred to as ‘the emotional aesthetic experience’).
Technique for me is always secondary. And I’m not overly concerned about technical perfection all the time. There are times when I’ll deliberately take images that are out of focus if that feels appropriate to the subject.
I don’t go out thinking that I’m going to shoot everything in B&W or I’m going to blur the images using ICM. That’s putting the proverbial cart before the horse in my mind. For example, I’m very fond of using long exposures but only when they can be used to recreate what I feel when viewing some landscape scenes e.g. energy & dynamism or peace & tranquility.
Techniques are the tools I chose to best represent my intent. My choices about depth of field, colour or B&W, composition, shutter speed, lenses used etc are all determined by my creative goals and what I am attempting to express. The challenge is to learn which tools are best employed in pursuit of achieving that. Experimentation and experience are the keys to success.
There was a time when telephoto lenses (e.g. 70-200mm or 100-400mm) would have been my first choice. I would use them like ‘an optical machete’ to visually extract key elements in the wider landscape. I have always been attracted to graphic and minimalist compositions and a telephoto lens helped me create the images that appealed. And I still like to have a telephoto optic in my camera bag for that reason. These days the Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 is the lens of my choice in this focal range – very robust and great optical quality. Although there are times when I’ll use the 100-400mm f5-f6.3 Contemporary lens – for example, when the greater reach would be useful or I’m looking to carry a lighter load (it’s about 200g grams lighter than the faster lens).
A few years ago, I started using a pinhole camera with a very wide angle of view (around 16mm in 35mm format) and that helped me master composing with a wider lens – something I had previously struggled with. Persistence and dedication (using that as my only camera for a considerable time) taught me how to keep compositions simple and create the minimalistic look I enjoyed. Now I am happy seeking out strong foregrounds, dynamic lines & shapes or looking for dramatic skies where a wide-angle lens comes into its own. I particularly enjoy using them for long exposures when I can capture windblown clouds scudding across a big open sky or record moving water as a smooth texture set alongside an interesting foreground object – rocks, jetties or piers for example. Now I wouldn’t be without the Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 lens in my backpack – it’s probably my most used optic and if I had to go out with just one lens this would be it.
Primes or zooms? I used to be wedded to prime lenses. They’re usually smaller, lighter and exhibit superb optical qualities combined with faster maximum apertures. And they still have an appeal – when I need to keep size and weight to a minimum. I am a longstanding fan of the 50mm focal length and the Sigma 50mm f2 DG DN lens in particular is my favourite prime for travel.
However, the improvement in modern lens design, resulting in excellent optical performance and the greater convenience of use associated with zooms (I hate changing lenses frequently in bad weather or when the light is constantly altering) means that I’m more likely to use them for my landscape work these days.
I’ve been using SLR cameras for more than 40 years and I can appreciate how we are spoilt for choice these days. And I’m grateful for that!
I consider myself very fortunate that my photography takes me all over the world and I have photographed on all 7 continents. So, it’s hard to choose particular favourites. But if you held a gun to my head:
(I know – that’s two locations!). Back in 2016 I sailed around the Southern Ocean for three weeks and was an instructor on a ship-based workshop. It was a magical, wonderful journey – it’s a place like no other that I had witnessed before or since. I found myself in awe of the vast expanse of wilderness, the tranquillity, peace & the silence only broken by the honking of the Penguins or the barking of the Seals. My emotional response to the landscape and the wildlife was intense and I hope that the photographs I took reflected that; photographs that ended up in my book based on my experience, ‘A Beautiful Silence’.
I first visited the Lakes when I was 19 years old and it captured my imagination and my heart. It was the place that inspired me to take up landscape photography. I love the diversity of the area – the beauty of the Lakes (each one with its own character), the drama of the fells and the peace & tranquillity of the woodland areas. There is so much to photograph – from the wide, scenic vistas to the small, intimate details of the landscape. I have visited regularly over the years and I am sure it will keep drawing me back- without wanting to give too much away, hopefully people will enjoy watching me explore the Lake District with Sigma in the coming months as part of a video series we’re creating together.
I have been to this wonderful city at least a dozen times in the last twenty years both to run workshops and to take my own photographs. It is a place that I will never tire of. It is beautiful, magical, romantic and mysterious – a place that presents a multi-faceted face to the enquiring photographer. My personal challenge has been to photograph, as Thomas Mann called it, the ‘darkly seductive’ side of the city.
I went on a photo safari to Botswana in 2018 and spent 10 days photographing the wildlife. It was awe inspiring to see the animals in their natural environment. Although photographing animals is not my area of expertise, I enjoyed the challenge of doing something different and ended up with a set of images that illustrated another book of mine (’Under African Skies’).
I can’t finish my list without mentioning a place I’ve been going to for around 11 years. The dramatic Faroe Islands are characterized by rugged mountains, long fjords cutting into the coastline and steep coastal cliffs teeming with seabirds. The islands’ position in the North Atlantic results in highly changeable weather, just the conditions I love to capture moody and evocative images.
I’d like to mention 3 key pieces of advice. Of course, I’ll wake up tomorrow and remember another 3 that I should have also mentioned, but for now:
Continue learning. No matter how long you’ve been taking photographs the learning should never stop. Absorb as much information as you can about photography and about photographers (past and present). I have a large collection of photo books that I constantly return to either to read or just study the images. But there are also magazines and videos that provide an almost never-ending source of learning. Use the information and knowledge you gather to influence your own photography.
Accept the rhythms of creativity. There are always ups & downs along the creative path. We all encounter those times when the ideas dry up, we lose momentum and the enthusiasm to go out and make new images disappears. Accept that it is part of the creative process, trust in the knowledge that it is not unique to you and have the patience and determination to hang in there – it will pass; it always does. Find strategies that work for you e.g. photograph something different to what you normally do, set yourself a topic to work on, one that you feel passionate about or just take a short break until the mojo returns.
Keep striving to grow as a photographer. Don’t become complacent, continually challenge yourself. Without change and growth we potentially end up taking photographs of our photographs. My wife has a poster in her office that says, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”. I think this is a good motto for photography. To continually repeat ourselves is both stifling to our creativity and incredibly boring. And boring is something I never want to be
Steve is a passionate photographer who has been interpreting the world with his camera from when he was young. Although black & white landscape and travel photography give him great pleasure and personal fulfilment, the creative within him doesn’t like to be confined to specific categories of work. Always seeking to develop and grow as a photographic artist he constantly challenges himself to turn his unique vision to a wide variety of subjects.
Steve’s work has been widely published across the world in books, magazines and displayed at exhibitions. He has also won many awards for both his colour and black & white images. One aspect of his career that Steve is most proud of and gains greatest satisfaction from is the 28 years he has spent teaching, encouraging and inspiring photographers from across the world through his writing and leading workshops.
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