(slow orchestral music)
- Okay, so now that I've finished writing the latest book
I can finally get on with my landscape photography project.
In fact, this past weekend I started it,
spent some time with some friends over in Wales,
Anthony Carothers and Ian Monroe.
We're driving around the Brecon Beacons,
absolutely stunning place on the Saturday.
We spent some real quality time there
and on the Sunday morning,
I got up really early having gone to bed
at 12:30 a.m. in the morning,
I got up at 3:30 a.m. to go
and take my first landscape project photograph
that we kind of planned where I was going to go.
I'm not gonna stop doing portraits.
That's pretty much what I'm known for
and I absolutely love to do
but the kind of goal I set myself
with this landscape photography
is that I want to be able to have a picture
that I would proudly hang on the wall in my house
because I can't really do that
as a portrait photographer, really,
because a lot of the portraits that I take,
they're either gonna be for a client
or it's for a project shoot that I've organised
and they're the kind of pictures I would happily
have hanging up in the studio
but I want something that would be...
I could hang up in the house.
(slow orchestral music)
Be different if it was a family member, of course,
but they're the kind of pictures
I would happily hang up in the studio
but a landscape, somewhere that I've been
and I've been in complete awe about
and is absolutely beautiful,
that's what I want to be able to hang up
on the walls in the house.
It's certainly not going to be replacing what I do.
I'm not looking to become the next latest
and greatest landscape photographer.
Not by any means.
This is purely a selfish project,
something that I want to do because I love the outdoors,
but I don't get to go outdoors enough
because I'm either in the studio photographing
or I'm sat in front of the computer working
on some pictures.
Now, I do love doing that but I want to get out more.
So combining the outdoors with photography
just seems like a bit of a marriage made in heaven, really,
so that's what I wanna do.
And I really, really suck at landscapes at the moment
so what's great about this is I feel like a newbie.
You know, once again, now I feel like a new person
to photography.
I know about, obviously I know about exposure
and composition and stuff like that,
but landscape photography is a completely different beast
and boy did I learn that this past weekend.
The picture I actually did is this one here.
I kinda like it.
There's a lot that I will do differently,
but in a year's time, I'm gonna go back
to the exact same location
to see how would I approach that location differently.
Would I still do the pano?
Or maybe would I actually focus in
on something a little bit more closer
and make that more the feature of the picture.
I don't know.
But that's what's exciting.
So, it's great feeling like a newbie.
It's great having no agenda.
I'm not looking for any kind of critique with this.
This is purely a journey that I wanna go on
to see how much can I progress
and develop in this particular area of photography.
And it's really, really exciting getting back to basics
and almost starting from scratch again.
Plus it means I'm gonna be spending more time
with my wife outdoors which is fantastic,
especially when we get a dog when we move.
How good is that gonna be?
Going out, outdoors, beautiful locations,
taking pictures, my wife's coming with me,
our dog's gonna be with us,
does it really get any better?
To me, that's kinda like my life is complete
when I'm gonna be doing that.
So I'm looking forward to that.
So I just wanted to put this little video together
just to kind of update ya,
those of you who knew I was starting
this particular project,
cause I sent it out on social media and to my email group,
so this was just to update you.
But also, just generally to say,
"Look, I've now started it."
It's 12 months.
We're now in May, 2018 and it will be fantastic if,
from time to time,
you maybe check in every now again on YouTube
and on my blog
just to see how I'm getting on,
what I'm learning, what I'm doing right,
what I'm doing wrong, everything.
That's what I intend to do, document the whole process.
And fingers crossed, in 12 months,
in May, 2019, I will be able to show you a picture
I've had printed and go, "That's the one
"that I want to have hanging on the walls in my house."
But if I don't get to that stage,
hey-ho.
I'm outdoors more, I'm in the fresh air
and I'm enjoying more of what is around me
rather than constantly chasing the next latest
and greatest and best picture,
I'm outdoors enjoying what is already free to enjoy.
I hope this make sense.
I hope you'll join me.
Thanks for tuning in
and I'll catch you in the next video.
(slow orchestral music)