Introducing Chris Davis
I didn’t really get serious about landscape photography until 2012 after a family holiday to the USA, the photos from which didn’t really live up to my expectations or convey the landscapes how I had experienced them. Since then, I have invested much time in honing my skills to be able to create the kind of images that do these landscapes justice. When I am not out shooting landscapes, I can usually be found in my office at home producing CGI imagery. I have been working as a CG artist for the last 17 years and working for myself for the last 5.
Working for myself has been key in allowing me to really push my photography in the direction I want and I am well on the way to turning my passion into a full-time career. Over the last twelve months, I have run several successful 1-2-1’s with people who have been in touch and I will be running small group workshops at various locations in the future. I have never been particularly comfortable talking in front of large groups. However, talking about a subject I have a great passion for with small groups of like-minded people who want to learn and improve their knowledge has been an easy and enjoyable transition to make.
Between the Lines
Taken around Loch Tulla looking for new angles to shoot we drove around the whole loch as far as we could until reaching a small bridge. Framing up using the stream as a leading line into the frame with the mountain covered if fresh snow in the distance. The tree in the middle of the frame is a little unfortunate as this would have been better without it. But overall a pleasing image.
Etive Flow
One of my favourite little spots down the river Etive depending on the amount of snow or rain the area has had. The kind of shot you get here can be drastically different. On this occasion, the water flow wasn't too strong. I was able to get the camera pretty low down with a wide-angle lens. I wanted to use a short shutter speed of about 0.5-1 second to give the water a feeling of movement and texture but without blurring it to solid white smudges. I composed it so the river leads the eye through the frame to the distant mountain paying attention to the tree on the right making sure there was some separation between it and the mountain.
The Pap of Glencoe
Driving around Kinlochleven we saw the water was dead still and from this viewpoint the reflections of the mountain and village were perfect. Composing so that the reflection line was approximately one third from the bottom of the frame, with the village to the lower right, the mountain in the upper left and with the band of colour running through the shot, everything balanced out very nicely. A postcard shot just waiting to be taking!
Rannoch Moor Frost
I have shot this exact spot on many occasions at different times of the year. A popular location as the sun rises behind you and if there is no cloud over there the Black mount in front of you gets painted with the warm morning light. The frosty cool foreground is contrasted with the warm mountain in the background making the shot.
White House
On this occasion we could tell the sunset would be a good one. So it was a case of setting up a nice composition and waiting for the light. I like to get the tripod right out in the water and the camera low down with a wide-angle. I tend to add a polarizer and an ND to smooth the water out and I had a 0.6 soft grad to hold the sky back. I probably waited about 20-30 minutes, firing off shots as the light changed. Standing in a river as the sun sets taking photos really is something you should have on your bucket list!
