ChromagraphPhotoArt

I hope you all had a peaceful, safe Christmas and New Year with the ones you love after what has been a very mixed 12 months. Whilst there have been good things, there have also been bad ones, very bad for those who have lost loved ones to the Pandemic. I have personally been a frontline key worker in the fight against it wearing my other hat as a Nurse and lost my father earlier in the year, not to Covid but we couldn't mourn him properly because of it. Creatively, I feel I have been taking really good images and soon hope to add some to this shop. So, a belated Bledhen Nowydh Da! from Cornwall to you and I look forward to having more of you as customers in the forthcoming year. Hopefully with the Vaccines now being rolled out, things will get easier soon, but in the meantime stay safe!

I have been a keen photographer for many years, but always at an amateur level. I would always use my images to either provide gifts for family and friends like Calendars or picture books with the occasional print made. Of course there were always family portraits and the occasional Wedding shoot too. My main interest has always been landscapes and although I have tried my hand at most types of photography over time, I always return to landscapes. The depiction of a beautiful landscape, seascape or more intimate scene is what moves me more than anything else. I joined a camera club and for many years enjoyed the friendly competitions and camaraderie of the club and in doing so honed my skills. The background to this was that I have always been a full time professional and have had no reason to make a career change into photography. Last year however this all changed. I woke up one Sunday morning to make breakfast for my partner and did not feel right. Everything seemed blurred and I was struggling with movement and speech. To cut a long story short, I had had a stroke and on recovery, which thankfully has been pretty much 100% had to become a part-time worker. I then quit my stressful job and found one that allowed me to work week on and week off. Now finally I have the time to pursue photography in a more professional way. I had the time and the idea, but also I needed a direction and a plan. This came in the form of a suggestion from a friend who had commissioned a large 5ft print of a breaking wave from me. She suggested Etsy as a proper shop window for those who crafted fine things themselves and after a good browse thorough the cornucopia of shops in Etsy felt that I could make a home here as an artisan maker of photographic images for the home or business. My vision is very much to be as hands on as possible, whilst at the same time making use of the best quality partners to ensure the final image is at the high standard customers expect. I intend to remain a one-man producer of bespoke images because that is what gives me most satisfaction and also fits my need to have a balanced lifestyle of both work and pleasure. After all, the main motivation is that I have a good excuse to go out and take more pictures with my camera.

Talking of cameras, I feel very strongly that photography is as much a craft as an art. Photographers are also craftspeople and I enjoy the craft of image-making as much as the final image. This is particularly the case analogue images in particular. Creating a final printed image from film is almost an alchemical process from pressing the shutter button to immersing the exposed film in chemicals to seeing the negative on a light box. Then of course to bring the image into digital form requires the black art that is known as scanning. Then there is the satisfaction of post-processing and crafting the final image before committing to print, then mounting and framing. These are all things I enjoy and in the future I intend to move further into this area with the intention of being able to deliver a fully analogue silver halide, or maybe even exotic process like Salt prints or Photogravure. Integrity is key to my personal and professional ethos. I want to make images that are unique, both for my own sense of worth and for each client to feel a meaningful relationship with each Image. You will not find carbon-copy representations of Durdle Door, St. Michaels Mount or Buchaille Etive Mhor in this shop.

I've always most enjoyed seeing my images on the wall in the home or business environment where they can be seen in the proper way so to that end I love the final printed result, especially when it is at a size large enough to stand back and admire. Prints are generally much longer lived than digital with a lifetime of years rather than the seconds that a digital image is appreciated for. That means a different approach is required with consideration of the environment the final product will inhabit being a key ingredient. In turn, that means a more subtle approach is needed. Images should complement or enhance the environment, not compete with it. What is needed in a hotel lounge is not that which is required in a bedroom or a Doctors waiting room.
So that is my story. I hope you have read through to the end. I am as I write this just at the beginning of an exciting new chapter in life and I hope you will come along with me too.

Thanks for reading.

Andy