For me photography started out as a hobby. I have always been interested in nature and the countryside, and from the ages of around one to seven, then from eleven onwards have always lived either in the country, or at least in a small town within half a mile of beautiful countryside. My mother has been a huge influence in my enjoyment of everything to do with nature and taught me a lot as I was growing up. The photography side of things really started when my own son was old enough to go on longer walks with me, and as any mother I took my compact camera to use for family snaps. It was then that I began to take an interest in using it to record what was also going on in the natural world whilst on these walks. I enjoyed it so much that I then bought myself a second hand Canon 100 SLR and 35-80mm lens and this became welded to me on every outing.
Gradually over a period of time I collected a small range of second hand lenses, and as I did my relationship with photography grew from just being a hobby to rather more of an obsession. I progressed from taking macro shots of flowers etc into taking an interest in landscapes and decided to start to teach myself some of the very basics of photography through various media. I have to be honest though, I have learnt the most through making lots of mistakes and listening to valuable advice from those who are much more in the know. However, I still have a long way to go and am constantly continuing to learn and tweak how I work as I go along. Practice makes perfect as they say.
I now live near Falmouth in Cornwall and have lived in Cornwall for twenty two years, and like to when I can, travel all over the south west in search of new areas to try and photograph. I tend to work in digital now when photographing and I believe that it’s not the tools that you have, it’s learning how to use them and also learning how to train your own eye, that can, and will, eventually produce a good photograph. One thing I always try to convey in my photographs is the natural beauty of what we have around us. For this reason I don’t as a rule enhance any of my photographs. The only alteration I may do is a little cropping, contrast or colour balance. I don’t believe in over-editing of images as it can make them seem unreal. I always try to keep mine as close and as natural as possible to the moment of capture.
Links:
Website: http://www.philstarkeyphotography.co.uk
500px: http://500px.com/PhilStarkey
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilStarkeyPhotography
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilStarkey
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