Technique
I use a large format view camera to photograph the landscape, it is essentially a light tight box, a simple design which has not changed since the very early days of photography. Even in these days of digital photography it is still seen as the ultimate tool to capture the landscape due to the vast amount of information which can be held on the 5x4 inch sheet of film and also the perspective and focus control it provides, this allows me to capture every detail and nuance of the landscape with amazing clarity.

Whilst heavy to carry and difficult to use (the image is viewed upside down!) I see this as an antidote to the technical age (not that digital is a bad thing, and I use digital as part of my print process, see below), large format is about as low tech as it gets! Using a large format is a slow, methodical, and precise practice which suits the landscape subject.

See my 'Large Format Page' for more information on the large format equipment and techniques that I use.


Photographic Process
My photographic process takes the best from both the film based world and the modern digital world in order to create stunning state of the art prints. Once the image is captured on film, it is digitally scanned using a professional pre-press scanner producing a file containing giga pixels of information and is then intensively prepared to be either printed on a professional modern large format digital printer (see below) using archival pigment inks on archival paper, or on Ilfochrome (see below) high gloss digital paper. The prints will therefore retain their incredible beauty, breathtaking impact and superb permanence for many years if properly looked after.


Large Format Digital Printer
These are modern inkjet printers which are able to produce prints of outstanding quality and sharpness. They achieve this by literally spraying ink onto the paper in incredibly fine droplets. I use several professional 'large format' models of inkjet printer which are able to produce prints of A3+ size and greater using pigment inks which are formulated for accurate colour reproduction and maximum archival life.


Ilfochrome
'Ilfochrome' (previously known as 'Cibachrome') is a very special colour print process providing stunning sharpness and colour. The surface is similar to a sheet of glass giving the image great depth, sharpness, and intense saturation. Ilfochrome prints have an amazing realism which is almost like standing in front of the original scene. Another benefit of the process is that Ilfochrome prints have much longer archival life than traditional chemical colour prints.

Ilfochromes can be printed directly from film as a traditional analogue print but can also be printed from a high resolution digital file and then processed chemically. With the digital route the print paper itself is essentially a traditional photographic paper tuned for digital exposure. The digital route allows for greater control over the final output.

To create the print digitally, lasers write the digital image directly to the paper (not via a lens) which is why the print is of such high quality. The final part of the process is to process the print chemically giving a high quality yet traditional looking print.