Aerial photos of Devon

This aerial photo was taken  on route from Salcombe to Liskeard in a Castle Air  jet ranger helicopter. I was commissioned to photograph a beautiful waterside property that will come to the market soon. The image is of Burgh Island with Bigbury and Bantham in the background. This image illustrates well the diversity of coastline we have in South West England. Rugged cliffs, shallow tidal estuaries, sandy beaches, as well as safe deep water rivers such as the Dart.

I am now able to offer mounted prints up to 3ft x 4ft in size and the quality is amazing. I plan to make a page for the website showing examples of these prints. They make great wall art for offices or the home. Click aerial photography in South West England to see more of my aerial photos.

© James Walker

Top 10 photo locations

Wineglass Bay, Tazmania

Devon, South West England

Argyll, Scotland

Castelluccio, Italy

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

Socca Valley, Slovenia

French Alps

Ourika Valley, Morocco

Dead Viel, Namibia

Here are my top ten photo locations from my recent travels. I have a love of travel, and a passion for wilderness. Landscape photography allows me to try and capture a moment in time, in the hope of being able to rekindle the experience in my mind on those dark and wet winters days. Each of these images represents a wonderful moment in time to me, when all the elements come together, the landscape, the light, and the photography. They are the moments that I live for…….

The observant amongst you may have noticed that I have only posted nine images because I want to know where you would add as the tenth. Please let me know in the comment box below.

Click here to see more of my landscape photography

For those starting out on learning to take landscape photographs here are a few photo tips;

Improve your chances of taking a great landscape shot by planning, watch the weather forecasts, plan where you need the sun to be, check the tide table, study google earth if its a new location to you.

Start thinking more about the quality of light and less about the quantity of light. It is not all about getting the camera out only on the glorious sunny summers day, often dawn and dusk can produce the best light. Some of the best photos I’ve taken have been after the sun has gone down at dusk. Set up the camera on a tripod and take a series of images as the light drops away. Put the camera on self timer and keep shooting as the light drops away until you are using exposure times of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 seconds and compare the results on your computer, you maybe pleasantly surprised with the results. Long exposures work well when taking seascapes and rivers as the resulting images will have a ‘milky’ water which often looks atmospheric. It is a simple effect that can be beautiful.

In order for a landscape photographer to really capture the moment they must learn to use filters. I don’t mean tacky filters take produce cheap effects but rather the use of graduated neutral density filters.  A set of ND filters will quickly become your best friend, they come in .3 (one stop), .6 (two stops), .9 (three stops). The best quality are made by Lee Filters, but they don’t come cheap! The filters help to control the quantity of light hitting an area of the sensor thereby controlling the contrast, allowing the photographer to record a greater range of tones from deep shadows through to bright highlights such as the clouds. With a little experimentation the photographer will learn to use them in a subtle way to create atmospheric images. All of the above images have been taken using neutral density filters.

Leading on from above it is essential to ‘get it right in camera’. I come from a background of working on transparency film where there was no choice but to get it right in the camera. To put it simply you can’t add later what you didn’t record at the time. Yes I know for some photoshop is the answer to all mistakes, but it is time consuming, meaning you are not out there taking pictures.

Happy Client!

James,

 Just looked at the photos with Christopher and Alistair.  They are truly phenomenal!  We all think you are a genius and an artist.

Many many thanks!

Kind regards,

MN

7/12/2012

Click here to see more of my Architectural Photography

Architectural interior

Property brochure

Travel photographer, Il Palio horse race, Siena

As a travel photographer I get to see some amazing sights. The bareback horse race takes place between rival town districts takes place twice every year in the Tuscan city of Siena.

To see more of my work as a travel photographer click this link

Family business, global market

Here are a couple of images of my daughter Sophie, one aged six, the other aged twelve. Both are taken with the fiction book market in mind. THE MEMORY OF LOVE has recently been published in the USA, and was marketed by the picture library Arcangel Images. I have been photographing my children since day one, slowly building a body of work, and creating a record of their childhood.

These images are sold worldwide to book publishers by Trevillion Images and Arcangel Images. I in turn pay my kids a commission on every sale, and this is starting to pay dividends for them. In the last quarter images of Sophie have sold in the UK, USA, Australia, Norway, and Portugal. My twelve year old daughter collected a tidy sum!

Click here to see more of my bookcover photography

Night Photography in Umbria

I’m never happier than when I’m wild camping in a beautiful place, and I think this shot kind of sums up why!

It was taken on a mountain (at 1600m) in Umbria, near the town of Castelluccio. I will be posting more images from the family trip around Europe in due course.

Technical Notes

The exposure was 40mins at F8 (400 iso) using a 17mm lens. Before taking this picture i first worked out the correct exposure for the tent which is lit by a LED torch. This only needed a two minute exposure in order to get the glowing light.
The camera was set up on the tripod and once the exposure had reached the the two minute duration, I switched off the light and went to sleep, leaving the camera to record the beautiful night sky.

Would I swop a night in my tent for a bed in a five star hotel?…..I think not!

Click here to see more my travel photography

Delicious!

This image is from a recent photoshoot at the Biddestone Arms in Wiltshire. Great food created by James Hedges. To see more click here

Hanging around

As a commercial photographer I never quite know where the next location will be. That’s part of the challenge, and I like the demands that makes. I was thrown in at the deep end (!) when asked to photograph equipment at a water treatment plant for STQ Safety. Unable to use my own 240 volt lighting equipment in that environment I worked with a combination of battery operated flash, daylight, and 110V tungsten worklamps kindly supplied by South West Water.

The equipment is designed to allow maintenance workers to access empty water tanks safely. It can also be used to recover an injured person in an emergency as this picture shows. A successful shoot, although some people said there was too much hanging around!

Dusk in Carrick Roads

This is my favourite image from a recent property photography shoot for Knight Frank. The image was taken after the sun had set in the last of the soft dusk light. Lee filters were used to enhance the sky and keep detail in the landscape. The seating area was lit using tungsten lighting. The glowing candle is a result of a slow exposure time in the low light  (half a second shutter time). I managed to grab just two frames before the colour in the sky slipped away.

Click here to see Architectural Photography

Maine’s beautiful beaches?

My work continues to sell well in the USA through the picture library Trevillion Images. The cover of Holly Chamberlins new book Last Summer was shot on location at Dawlish Warren near Exeter. Reading the description of the book I am amused to see that the story is set “close to Maine’s beautiful beaches”. So for those of us feeling the pinch there’s no need to jet off, just get your wind-break out and head for Dawlish!

Click here to see more Bookcover Photography

Oman Expedition Images – a preview showreel.

Here is a preview of my images taken during the Outward Bound Oman expedition. I covered the last thirty days which took in desert, mountains, as well as the last leg being at sea.

Click on the link here to see more Expedition Photography

Return from the wilderness

Tower Tombs, Oman

I returned to the UK this week having spent a month on expedition in Oman. I will be posting my work on this website in due course, so please subscribe to my blog and you will receive a notification as soon as more images go up.

Photography notes: This image was taken an hour after sunset. Due to the high winds the tripod was weighted with rocks to reduce the risk of camera shake. Using a canon 16mm lens the composition was set up to show a tower tomb on the hill. Once the tripod was locked off and the focus was set to manual the picture was ready to be taken. Using a cable release the camera shutter was left open for one hour to make the exposure. During this time I walked up to the tower in order to light it up. This was done by using a flash gun, firing it a number of times from different angles in order to illuminate the tower.

 

 

 

 

Expedition Photographer

Morocco 2011

I am delighted to be selected by OUTWARD BOUND OMAN as one of two expedition photographers for an epic 1000 km journey through the wilderness of Oman.I will be joining the expedition in January for the last 30 days. We will cover desert terrain, mountains, and undertake a sea voyage. Aside from trekking, the expedition will be using camels, Arab horses and traditional Arab sailing dhows.

The aim of the expedition is to reconnect young Omani people to their rich heritage whilst exposing them to the skills they will need to succeed in the future.

I will be posting more information on the expedition in due course.

This is a link to a pdf flyer on the expedition, Footsteps of Thesiger Journey

Scotland…… sun, seals, sailing, & submarines!

Photography notes:

This image was taken whilst being eaten by midges at 8pm, just before the sun slipped behind the hills. Shooting straight into the sun I have used a .9ND Lee filter on the sky (http://www.leefilters.com/camera/products/show/ref:C4756C9720849C/). This in turn has allowed me to expose for the shadows, thereby keeping the foreground detail in the picture. In post production I have used Nik Silver Efex Pro (http://www.niksoftware.com/silverefexpro) to convert to black and white.

Location:

We returned again this year to Inverlounin House at Loch Goil (http://www.inverlounin.co.uk), for two weeks of outdoor pursuits. The beautiful deepwater loch is a great retreat for anyone who enjoys, sailing, fishing, swimming, and seal spotting. We were somewhat surprised to look out the window one evening to find a moored submarine ( Vanguard Class ) with six armed pilot boats surrounding it.

I was commissioned to do the website photography for Inverlounin House and this can be seen by clicking HERE.

Click here to view my Travel Photography

Worldwide sales

In the last quarter my work has sold in South Africa, Portugal, USA, Netherlands, and Germany. Trevillion Images, the world’s leading fine art picture library markets my work to book publishers across the globe. Please click on the BOOKCOVERS section on the website to see more. The picture below was done with my daughter and a model. Taken in Somerset, South West England…………….on the cover of a South African book!

My Showreel

Please take a look at my Showreel. It is aimed at showing the broad range of photography I can produce. I will in due course do separate Showreels to show the specific areas I cover such as architectural and wedding photography.

or to download the Showreel please go   to http://gallery.me.com/jmwphotography/100274

Thanks for looking. Feedback is always welcome!

Morocco

These images were taken on a recent trip to Morocco. Like most of our family ‘holidays’ our trip quickly became a mini expedition taking in the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara. The pictures include our ascent of the highest mountain in North Africa, Jbel Toubkal at 4167m. On the 17th April we climbed to the refuge at 3000m, just above the snow line. After a sleepless night at altitude we set out at first light  reaching the summit  just before 10 00. We were compensated for our gruelling four hour climb by astonishing views. By midday we were back to the refuge and then on to the village of Imlil arriving at 19 00 . A long but wonderful day.

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Aerial photography on the Camel Estuary

This image was taken during a recent aerial helicopter photoshoot on the Camel Estuary. I was photographing a waterside property soon to be  on the market. Although chartering helicopters is an expensive business, it allows me to shoot at any height and angle. During the last ten years I have been lucky enough to see much of South West England from the air, I guess you could say it is a perk of the job!

Click here to see more Aerial Photography in the South West

Danielle Steel bookcover

My latest U.K. bookcover is out now in hardback.
And I’ve even heard of the author!
More of my creative photography can be seen at http://www.trevillion.com
Type James walker into the search box.

44 Charles Street

Venice in the rain

A couple of images from a trip to Venice last week. Boy was it wet! This is a shot of St Marks Square underwater. With shops selling wellies at £30 a pair there was no option but to walk on through to the other side…..

A winter wedding

A winter wedding can be a challenge for any professional photographer and Richard and Ashley’s big day was no exception.  I approach each wedding on an individual basis, getting to know the clients before hand, researching the locations and planning for most eventualities. This preparation combined with the fact I cover the whole day results in a unique collection of images. Richard and Ashley’s finished album contains  over 120 images and I personally regard this as a mark of success.
If you are planning a wedding please give me a call on 07977 924058 or email me at james@jmwphotography.co.uk

Click here to see more Wedding Photography

James Walker Photography

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Tasmania

These images were taken during a trip to Tasmania in the spring of 2011. It is  a wonderful unspoilt island with a stunningly diverse landscape.
Wineglass Bay is rated  one of the best top ten beaches in the world and it’s not hard to see why. Accessible only by a 40 minute walk which deters  a large proportion of potential visitors the beach is empty and pristine. The water is crystal clear, teeming with fish, and very inviting (if a little chilly!). This photo was taken with the camera mounted on a tripod. Landscape photography depends upon strong composition and the photographers ability to capture the information on film, or in this case digitally. By information I am referring to the tonal range of the image, the ability to render a range of tones from the highlights through to the shadows. The key to this is through the use of graduated neutral density filters (ND or grads short). ND filters are usually used to ‘hold’ the highlights in a scene, to stop them ‘burning out’. ND filters come in .3 (1 stop), .6 (2 stops), and .9 densities (3 stops) . My image of Wineglass Bay was taken using a .9 ND filter that covered all but the rocks (in shadow) in the foreground. This has effectively reduced the brightness range between the highlights (sand, sky, etc) and the deep shadows of the rocks, allowing the camera to capture the scene in one frame. No post production work was done on this image.
Shortly after taking this pic, I cracked a cold beer and settled down to some fishing………heaven.

Global Market

This image has been sold to an Italian publisher for a fiction bookcover.
So let me get this right, English photographer, Namibian location, Italian client, …..a small world!

To see more of my creative photography please visit Trevillion Images picture library.
http://www.trevillion.com
Type James Walker into the search box.

Visitors to the site

The End of Summer

This image was taken last week during a location shoot with Ella and Charlotte.

Click here to see more Portrait Photography

Equestrian Photography

Congratulations to Anna, Sophie & Zoe  of  Exeter School for winning the Kings Hall Interschool Showjumping competition.
See more pictures at the Exeter School Equestrian website.
http://www.exeterschool.wordpress.com

Equestrian event photography

Swallows and Amazons

One of my favourite images from our family holiday last month in Scotland.

South of France?

This is my favorite image from a recent photoshoot at Greenway Manor in East Devon. The property is being marketed by Knight Frank in Exeter.

Mugga Flugga!

A couple of images from a sailing trip last month aboard a Swan 66. I joined the boat in Lerwick before sailing to the Summer Isles and on to Loch Gairloch. We started the sail from Lerwick by heading North and rounding Mugga Flugga the most Northerly point in the UK.

Bookcover photography

Schikken of Stikken has recently been published in Holland. I took the picture from a gallery looking down onto Charlotte. The image works well as it is simple and bold……… and they’re a good pair of legs!