Every Picture
I have cherry-picked a number of my favourite images from over the years and you can go straight to that gallery by clicking the button "Go Straight to Main Portfolio Gallery" below.
Like most photographers, I hope that some of my images will win wide-scale appreciation, but many in this Portfolio section are more personal: they tell stories that strike a more intimate chord for me.
These images are true 'ephemera' taken in the moment and seemingly unimportant in the 'Grand Scheme' - perhaps they are just snapshots or with a specific assignment in mind - but now finding personal meaning years - often decades - after they were first captured.
Other links on this page will take you to other favourites by broad subject, including images from Southwestern USA, photo documenting the changes in Port Talbot, my portfolio of West Wales, and images that have people as the focus. In this last section - called 'A Different Take' I am showcasing my portrait and event work.
There are links below to take you straight to these more focussed collections.
Enough with the talk; just take me straight to the images....
If you do not want to read the 'background mental meanderings' that I have written below - you can jump straight to my Portfolio Gallery by clicking the button below:
Land of the Light
Southwestern United States - New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, California - is a land bathed in warm, vibrant colours. One phrase in the Navajo language proclaims that this is diné bi-adinídíín - Land of the Light. It is grand in scale.
Breath taking, Awe inspiring.
It is a place of in-your-face beauty.
Ansel Adams was a pioneer of landscape photography and worked in Southwestern USA. He believed a great image captures the photographer's emotional response to a subject, aiming to translate those feelings into the final print, and communicating the essence of what was seen and experienced when the photograph was taken.
Perhaps that challenge is why he also wrote: "Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer, and often the supreme disappointment."
Click the button below to view some of my images.
A Different Take
Street photography, portraiture, and chasing the elusive Tylwyth Teg of Welsh mythology - for me, photography has always been a mix of capturing the ephemera of the moment as well as a constructing a creative narrative.
'A Different Take' is a collection of my portraiture and event photography.
I hope that these images capture the personalities of those who I have photographed, and that the ephemeral moment recorded does justice to these people and the events around them.
IIncidentally, most of my catalogue consists of images captured in the ‘digital age’ - usually on Nikon equipment.
But some photographs in this 'Ephemera' section of my website include a few examples of photographs taken between 1972 and 1977 using a Russian built Zenit E shooting on film. This camera was a a remarkably tough, weighty piece of engineering and, in truth, rather lacked any 'sophistication'.
But it was functional, a relatively inexpensive way into SLR photography, and was the camera that I initially used to capture a true landscape photograph in my first image of the Grand Canyon in 1980.
And remember, the best camera in the world is always the one you have you at the time.
Steeltown
I have been visiting Port Talbot to document the impact that the closure of the current blast-furnaces has on the town.
Incidentally, shelve your preconceptions of Port Talbot and do visit if you get the chance. No, it is not a traditional ‘holiday destination’, but the street art (use the phone app to guide you), the incredible seafront, and Margam Park are worthy of your time.
Try and include a visit to Margam Beach. It is more of a challenge to walk to, but this part of the coast - with the surreal skeletal backdrop of the steelworks - is a must-see.
At one point the owners of the steelworks did try and cut-off public access to this beach. The local community rightly protested against this attempt and won a legal challenge.
I hope that my images do justice to this place and its remarkable community at a time of seismic change.
Click the link below to go to Steeltown!
Hiraeth
Hiraeth is a Welsh word that has no direct English translation. It can be likened to a homesickness tinged with grief and sadness over the lost or departed, especially in the context of Wales and Welsh culture.
When I think of trying to capture Hiraeth in my work, I am reminded of what Ansel Adams said about the challenges of creating an image that projected the awe and emotion that he felt when taking the photograph:
“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
Perhaps that is why Adams also said: “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”
I would be really happy with twelve...
