BIO



As an avid photographer for many years, my tendancy is to choose subjects with potential rather than things that look good to begin with and therein lies my challenge – the main aim being to help myself see things differently and hopefully convey that to others. I often look for an odd angle or composition and like most photographers, have become a keen observer. Seeking the unusual and putting a different slant on the very usual have become important concepts to me. Thanks for viewing my work and feel free to comment constructively.

Please note that my gallery images are protected by International Copyright Law. All rights reserved ©wdphotografics

You are welcome to visit my photography website CHROMATIC VISTA [link]


PUBLICATIONS + AWARDS
Commissioned articles and photos in Digital Camera (World) Magazine.
Photos in Digital SLR User Magazine.
Photos in Digital Photographer Magazine.
Finalist in Sony World Photography Award 2008 – work exhibited at Cannes, France in April '08.
Two Architectural Photography books published in 2009.
Commendation in Sony World Photography Award 2010.
Finalist in 'Award of Excellence' from Photographer's Forum Magazine 'Spring Photography Contest' – work published in 'Best of Photography 2010' book.


VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE

A group of derelict farm building in rural South Australia. It was an overcast day but I wanted to shoot them from different angles, including the interiors. They were all vacant except for a community of pigeons that had taken over - they scattered, flew up, re-grouped and circled while I was there and I was careful where stepping to avoid the piles of guana deposited below their favourite perches amongst the timber trusses overhead. I liked the character of the vernacular, rustic architecture, now in weathered tatters, so I spent quite a while trying different angles. The low level and eveness of light available on overcast days can be a bonus for digital photography because highlights and contrasts are minimal. Exposures are not as demanding for sensors, allowing for greater scope for processing raw data and subsequent processing.
These shots were originally edited in full colour, but I soon realised that they worked better, producing a more timeless feeling and stark appearance when converted to duotones.






DINOSAUR VALLEY

Covering a broad swathe of southern and eastern Alberta, the Canadian Badlands are a unique place to explore. Eons of compressed sea deposits have been carved by glaciation and subsequent erosion into a striking landscape of strangely sculpted formations and rolling prairies bisected by coulees (deep gulches or ravines with sloping sides) and deep river valleys.  The area is well known for being one of the greatest dinosaur fossil beds in the world. Thirty-nine dinosaur species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the world. Its significance justified it becoming a World Heritage Site in 1979. I didn't come across any dinosaurs or their bones but I did find some beauty in the eroded shapes and the cloud formations. These images were shot at Dinosaur Provincial Park.






FAIRGROUND SERIES

I had been working on a group of images intermittently for a few weeks, not realising that they would form the basis for a series. Most of the subjects were brightly coloured as is usually the case in fairgrounds and amusement parks - obviously to first attract one's eye and then the money. I wanted to reduce the colour and experimented with a semi-documentary style with much of the colour reduced or removed, but still retaining a subtle impact. Removing the colour also reduced the distractions and allowed the detail and visual narrative to come forward in a clearer way. This technique set the pattern for most of the images although the emphasis of colour is slightly different in each. My intention and the general outcome has a sinister and almost macabre appearance, not the usual fun feeling associated with such places and subjects.







For more in the Fairground Series, click [link]


FARMER'S MARKET

Rain didn't keep away the stallholders selling their fresh rural produce, nor the enthusiastic buyers at this lively country market in South Australia - caught between showers.






DARK ANGEL

While meandering through city parklands looking for something suitable to photograph, I saw this marble memorial in the distance with what appeared to be a life-sized statue adjacent. As I got closer it became apparent that it was no ordinary figure…....it was a magnificently sculptured bronze angel bearing a palm branch and standing on the steps. The building itself did not seem imposing and the sculpture, although the main feature to my way of thinking, seemed like a most effective afterthought. It was a dull day so I returned another time when the light was better and shot it handheld from different angles. That's my hat on the steps and was deliberately placed to counterbalance the composition and add a visual distraction to the strong prescence of the main subject…....what I now refer to as my 'Dark Angel'. Some post editing was done to cause a slight colour shift and some vignetting added (it is not hdr tone-mapped). The monument is in Angus Gardens, Adelaide – South Australia, was erected in 1915 and attributed to WR Cotton. It is dedicated to George Fife Angus and John Howard Angus, pioneers, pastoralists and philanthropists.




ARCHITECTURE IS WHERE YOU FIND IT

Architecture is to do with the designing of buildings and structures, but in its broader meaning it also includes the design of our complete built environment. It can be found in outback areas, on mountain peaks, almost anywhere on the land, even on the sea in the form of oil rigs and it surrounds us in our places of abode. We tend to take it for granted and complain when its appeareance doesn't suit our taste. Architecture provides us with shelter, places to work, gives us points of reference in our urban wilderness, but most important of all, it provides a fundamental basis for the way we live. Architecture is ephemeral, can be a thing of great beauty, and its elements can be pillaged and used as building blocks by successive generations. Past civilizations are often known through their achievements in architecture and certain works have become cultural, political and artistic icons. They are my thoughts on the subject anyway.
Presumably a family once lived in this little house at Fort Steele, British Columbia. It now stands derelict and isolated, yet it seems to exist as a monument to the toil of hard working rural people anywhere. The image was captured during summer 2008 towards the end of a photographic journey through the Canadian Rockies.



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