Our December Featured Photographer , is a man I have met lots of times since I started DGWGO , in all sorts of places and ocasions , from Music festivals to Formal networking Do’s , Allan Wright is a real inspiration and an all round top bloke , and his Photographs are absolutely amazing , we so hope you enjoy his Feature as much as we have enjoyed putting it together ! R.B
I have been a professional landscape photographer for 30 years and I absolutely love my job. My special passion is for nature in both abstract and classic forms and in pursuit of images I am compelled to capture fleeting and lyrical qualities presented by the rich & colourful forms inherent in the Scottish landscape.
I started out with a manual Nikkormat camera travelling abroad in 80’s and very quickly I became hooked. There were just a few mesmerising moments when I realised the difference between snapping and making a picture, it was a profound experience, something moved inside!. These early days were a heady mix of excitement and pain, it became an obsession. So important was it to get both the composition and the moment right, failure caused suffering and so I learned quickly. I realised early that seeing was the name of the game, technical skill developed from necessity. I loved encounter and the challenge to be ready to zero in on the moment.
Five years ago the photo-publishing company “Lyrical Scotland” I owned and ran was bought over and since then I have been enjoying a “freelance” status whilst continuing to photograph Scotland for the new owners and a variety of new clients. I have covered the larger part of this amazing country over the years, although commercial reality demands the continuous updating of images simply because both landscapes and especially cityscapes change, thus the replacement of images is vital. Also as the bar for technical standard is constantly rising at every turn so the demand for more pixels and more accurate colour relentlessly marches on.
I travel mostly by camper van as it affords the greatest flexibility and access to locations occasionally tent-camping for sunrises and often using a bicycle for greater efficiency in covering rougher ground. Professional landscape photography involves significant input in terms of logistics and planning as the list of parameters that affect the success of a shoot are often quite extensive. Of course the “unexpected” is one of the most enjoyable aspects and I relish the encounter of lucky moments that might for example involve running across a field at full speed to momentarily catch a fleeting rainbow resting magically on an already eye-catching object in the landscape.
There is so much new landscape to be discovered in Scotland at large that I have always felt it was at least a life’s work, probably more , but interestingly it is down home in dear old Galloway that I get the strongest reinforcement of how landscape imagery is in fact an inexhaustible entity, as anywhere you care to choose never looks the same way twice! (except perhaps in the pouring rain!)
Photography has gone kind of ballistic these past few years since high quality digital cameras have become affordable, people have been empowered and are able to express themselves more easily. The downside of this intense activity is perhaps that the sheer volume of material being produced & presented has depressed the perceived value of photography and I know that many pro and semi pro photographers out there have been finding it much tougher to make a living as a result.
More than half my time is spent editing, printing, blogging, cataloguing and uploading images to photo libraries. Demands on keeping up to date with the advancement of media and new technologies can be a challenge but this is the game we are in now, anything is possible. All you need is imagination, a few techy skills, plenty of energy and you too can have lots of fun.
You can keep up to date with Allan or contact him on the links below
web www.allanwrightphoto.com
FB www.facebook.com/allanwrightphoto
Twitter www.twitter.com/allanwrightfoto
linkedin www.uk.linkedin.com/in/allanwrightphoto
group www.gallowayphotocollective.co.uk
