Profile
Hi everyone I'm Jim, Land Lighter No 1. Welcome to our world!
My reaction to the land has always been an emotional one, from my first memories of fishing boats leaving Bridlington harbour in the pre-dawn light, to viewing the Peak District in morning mist, I felt honoured to be able to view the land in all its many cloaks. If land was paint then light would be the artist laying different strokes to reveal the contours of the scene.
I was born in Chesterfield on the edge of the Peaks in 1956, a good deal of my early years were spent in my Mother's home town of Bridlington on the east coast, here I fell in love with Britian's ever changing landscape. I knew I wanted to be a photographer when I left school, but times were hard and as my Father said; photography was not a proper job. It was in my late twenties before I felt capable of following a photographic path so I attended night school at my local college for three years. After experimenting with all forms of photographic work I came to what has become my driving force - Landscape. My personal photographic heroes have always been landscape photographers, after many years the path I needed to follow became clear. Five years ago I met Mark and after knowing him for a time I realised Mark had the same love of landscape as myself. Mark has a unique vue when it comes to his work, one day while we were having one of our many outings to the wilderness a decision was made to create 'Land Lighters'. Since that day we have been to places as far flung as the Western Isles, Scotland, Cornwall, England's east coast, Cumbria, Spain and the USA.
My equipment at the moment is 35mm digital, but I am able to use any camera to record my images as I do not see the instrument of capture being as important as the finished image, as long as the image is of the highest quality. Some time ago I read a Zen Maxim in a piece of prose by Joe Cornish,
" Develop an infallible technique, then put yourself at the mercy of inspiration."
This, to me, seems to be a code made for the landscape photographer to follow. I hope you enjoy our website and that you find a little piece of wilderness for yourself. ...........
My reaction to the land has always been an emotional one, from my first memories of fishing boats leaving Bridlington harbour in the pre-dawn light, to viewing the Peak District in morning mist, I felt honoured to be able to view the land in all its many cloaks. If land was paint then light would be the artist laying different strokes to reveal the contours of the scene.
I was born in Chesterfield on the edge of the Peaks in 1956, a good deal of my early years were spent in my Mother's home town of Bridlington on the east coast, here I fell in love with Britian's ever changing landscape. I knew I wanted to be a photographer when I left school, but times were hard and as my Father said; photography was not a proper job. It was in my late twenties before I felt capable of following a photographic path so I attended night school at my local college for three years. After experimenting with all forms of photographic work I came to what has become my driving force - Landscape. My personal photographic heroes have always been landscape photographers, after many years the path I needed to follow became clear. Five years ago I met Mark and after knowing him for a time I realised Mark had the same love of landscape as myself. Mark has a unique vue when it comes to his work, one day while we were having one of our many outings to the wilderness a decision was made to create 'Land Lighters'. Since that day we have been to places as far flung as the Western Isles, Scotland, Cornwall, England's east coast, Cumbria, Spain and the USA.
My equipment at the moment is 35mm digital, but I am able to use any camera to record my images as I do not see the instrument of capture being as important as the finished image, as long as the image is of the highest quality. Some time ago I read a Zen Maxim in a piece of prose by Joe Cornish,
" Develop an infallible technique, then put yourself at the mercy of inspiration."
This, to me, seems to be a code made for the landscape photographer to follow. I hope you enjoy our website and that you find a little piece of wilderness for yourself. ...........
Hi everyone I’m Mark, Land Lighter No 2. Welcome to our world!
Photography for me began at the end of 2000. I picked up my first camera at Christmas 2000, a Nikon F80. I’m a passionate Nikon user. From the first click on the F80, continuing to the F100 I’ve been in love with that ‘clunk’ ever since. Once the digital age dawned I delved into it with a D70 that was quickly upgraded to a D200. Now using the D200 and F100 in tandem I can cater for whatever nature throws at me.
Born in Chesterfield 1980, living on the edge of the Peak District provided me the perfect canvas to hone my skill on. The ever changing and beautiful scenes of the county were always what drew me to my camera and driving out to Curbar Edge to watch the sunset never seemed a chore as every visit could give you something different. The changing light on the land captivated me, showing the beauty of mother nature and this is what I strive to bring to your living room now.
Cumbria & The Lakes has a huge influence on my photography and my life. My wife Gillian is a former resident of Carlisle in Cumbria, this gave me the perfect excuse to visit this beautiful county every weekend. Spending hours around The Lake District, it captured my imagination. I couldn’t help being struck by its beauty and this made me want to pursue those perfect images further. To this day I still love to go to Derwent Water at first light during the summer, there is just something so magical about this place; from the glimmering gold on the water to the pink tones in the early morning sky it is tranquility encapsulated.
A turning point came in 2006 when both Jim and I ventured to Scotland on our first joint photography trip. The Isle of Mull in Scotland was our destination. Packing my cameras and my ideas we would be thinking about nothing but photography for a whole week. The island locations were amazing and inspiring; from the vast white sands at Calgary to the multi coloured houses of Tobermory, this island was a photography paradise. One of my most favourite pictures I ever captured was on Mull and can be seen in our gallery (pink dawn), the picture required us to be on the beach at 4 o’clock in the morning for the sun rise but we were rewarded with the deepest pink sky you could imagine.As the sun was emerging from behind the distant hills it illuminated an old rusting boat. The moment was captured beautifully and it will stay with me forever.
Since visiting Mull I have developed my style, creativity and belief, which has taken me around England, Scotland and the USA, trying to capture the essence of each place in a picture. My all-time jackpot was visiting the Isle of Skye in early 2007. Skye was one of the most dramatic, dynamic and challenging locations I had ever photographed. Any photographer who wants to see nature at its best must visit this island. When I arrived home and started to process my work the concept was Land Lighters was born. What I really wanted to do was share these wonderful locations with the rest of the world, by putting a photographs in a living space I aim for the viewer to become lost in the moment and transported to that perfect place ……….
Photography for me began at the end of 2000. I picked up my first camera at Christmas 2000, a Nikon F80. I’m a passionate Nikon user. From the first click on the F80, continuing to the F100 I’ve been in love with that ‘clunk’ ever since. Once the digital age dawned I delved into it with a D70 that was quickly upgraded to a D200. Now using the D200 and F100 in tandem I can cater for whatever nature throws at me.
Born in Chesterfield 1980, living on the edge of the Peak District provided me the perfect canvas to hone my skill on. The ever changing and beautiful scenes of the county were always what drew me to my camera and driving out to Curbar Edge to watch the sunset never seemed a chore as every visit could give you something different. The changing light on the land captivated me, showing the beauty of mother nature and this is what I strive to bring to your living room now.
Cumbria & The Lakes has a huge influence on my photography and my life. My wife Gillian is a former resident of Carlisle in Cumbria, this gave me the perfect excuse to visit this beautiful county every weekend. Spending hours around The Lake District, it captured my imagination. I couldn’t help being struck by its beauty and this made me want to pursue those perfect images further. To this day I still love to go to Derwent Water at first light during the summer, there is just something so magical about this place; from the glimmering gold on the water to the pink tones in the early morning sky it is tranquility encapsulated.
A turning point came in 2006 when both Jim and I ventured to Scotland on our first joint photography trip. The Isle of Mull in Scotland was our destination. Packing my cameras and my ideas we would be thinking about nothing but photography for a whole week. The island locations were amazing and inspiring; from the vast white sands at Calgary to the multi coloured houses of Tobermory, this island was a photography paradise. One of my most favourite pictures I ever captured was on Mull and can be seen in our gallery (pink dawn), the picture required us to be on the beach at 4 o’clock in the morning for the sun rise but we were rewarded with the deepest pink sky you could imagine.As the sun was emerging from behind the distant hills it illuminated an old rusting boat. The moment was captured beautifully and it will stay with me forever.
Since visiting Mull I have developed my style, creativity and belief, which has taken me around England, Scotland and the USA, trying to capture the essence of each place in a picture. My all-time jackpot was visiting the Isle of Skye in early 2007. Skye was one of the most dramatic, dynamic and challenging locations I had ever photographed. Any photographer who wants to see nature at its best must visit this island. When I arrived home and started to process my work the concept was Land Lighters was born. What I really wanted to do was share these wonderful locations with the rest of the world, by putting a photographs in a living space I aim for the viewer to become lost in the moment and transported to that perfect place ……….