COLOUR

Hi First name / everyone, happy new year and I hope you had an amazing festive season!? Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024. 

 

I realise it has been a while since I have delved into an inspiring photographic topic, and I'm sorry! I guess my excuse is that 2023 was a very busy year, and full of exiting trips and new images. Sometimes I get a little too caught up in sharing images that I forget to share the things that inspire me, and hopefully you! So this months newsletter is on the topic of colour, and how it has inspired my view of the world photographically. 

 

- William

We live in an immensely beautiful world. A world full of beauty around every corner. At times I find every day activities challenging  as I can't stop seeing amazing photographs at every turn. In fact I often find it rather debilitating as I am unable to concentrate on simple things when my mind is constantly searching for images. 

 

I believe this love for beauty in even the most mundane things comes from being inspired by others. If I look back at the many artists and photographers I have loved over the years, I find there is a constant theme that links them, their use of colour!

 

From the street artist Banksy, and his punchy singular colours, to Vermeers brilliantly balanced Girl with a pearl earring, I have always been obsessed with colour. As my attention shifted from art to photography this theme seemed to continue alongside. As I traded Banksy for Alex Webb and Vermeer with Saul Leiter. 

The following three photographers I would credit most with my early photographic inspiration. While most would credit the likes of Saul Leiter and Alex Webb in the top five colour photographers, and I am not saying I don't! Pete Turner, Mirko Saviene, and Greg Du Toit have potentially inspired me more than them.

Pete turners Giraffe image, was one of the first images I came across that stuck the middle finger up at a traditional way of showcasing wildlife and made it art. While I don't necessarily love the image, it was an epiphany that made me realise that creativity has a home within wildlife photography!

A purple cow in business terms is a marketing concept that uses the principle of things being remarkable, unique and interesting in order for customers to start talking about them. In the world of wildlife photography Greg Du Toit in my eyes revelutionised the concept of being different. Embracing the purple cow, or in his case, the Blue Elephant. Not being confined to the box of what should be done, but rather experimenting with what could be done! This principle for me puts emotional impact and storytelling over lighting and behaviour.

Finally Mirko Saviene has been a rather inspiring photographer from a non wildlife standpoint. While I have never really pushed my travel/street photography onto anyone, it still remains as a real love. Being inspired by other forms of photography keeps the excitement of creating real, and from a personal point, I am driven to try new things and step out of the comfort zone of wildlife photography. 

Please take a moment to look at all three of these peoples work. It truly is inspirational and I hope you enjoy being enthralled by colour!

Many people who have recently started following me, may know me as a black and white photographer. It's a strange feeling to accept that, and one that I am not sure I like. It's not that I am not flattered by it, but I weirdly have always been more drawn to punchy impactful colour. In fact, the photographers I mentioned before are arguably my biggest inspirations throughout my career. 

 

I guess my shift has come through a minimalistic phase, a phase of discovery, a phase of exploring and developing a “style”. A phase which I am already moving out of… but that's a topic for another newsletter! So in a weird shift, the style that people identify my work by, is the style I am least inspired by… how odd the world can be to a creative mind.

 

So in the spirit of revitalising my love for colour, and encouraging you to do the same, here are a selection of some of my favourite images delving into the world of pigment. A celebration of saturation and hue! 

Thank you as always for reading and I cannot wait to hear what you think of this months newsletter! The next newsletter is coming soon, so make sure you have signed up!

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