My passion for photography began back in 1979, when my interest in railways led me to record on film the day to day working of trains in and around my native North East. The equipment I was using at that time was a Chinon CE4 35mm SLR with a 50mm lens. Whilst the results were not ideal it did give me chance to gain experience with apertures & shutter speeds. I also began to realise, the importance of light and how it had an effect upon the landscape. By the mid 1980s I felt confident enough to move up to medium format, so I invested in a Pentax 6×7. At that time I was shooting with Kodak Ektachrome 200 Transparency film and the results from the Pentax were quite staggering, as you would expect with hindsight, compared to what I had been used too. I used the Pentax to record railway images right up until the late 1990s. At this time, for a variety of reasons, my interest in the railway scene started to diminish. I eventually gave up railway photography in early 2000, although I still do the odd shot even if its just to meet up with old friends who are still actively involved in railway photography. I do have a fotopic website which contains the best of my railway images. For anyone who maybe interested in taking a look at my railway work there is a link within this site.

After a complete lay off from any type of photography for approximately three years, I still had the urge to get out with my camera. Landscapes seemed to be a natural progression from railways, not just because I prefer to be outdoors but also railway photography is basically a train within a landscape. I started to read most of the photography magazines on offer to see what I could learn and pick up any tips from the more experienced landscapers, who write articles in these publications. I soon realised however, there was more to shooting landscapes than I first envisaged, for instance, I had to learn how to effectively use the various filters on offer such as grads, polarisers and warm ups but also compositional skills too. I would have probably been better off enrolling on a course at my local college but my full time job would not allow this. My inspiration came from the work of Joe Cornish and Colin Prior, who are, in my opinion two of the UK’s top landscape photographers, in fact it was Colin Priors work that influenced me to delve into the panoramic format. Whilst I admire these photographers, I still prefer to develop my own unique style. It’s been a steep learning curve so far with many a failed image ending up in the rubbish bin, but I now feel that I am making progress. The images within this website are what I consider to be the best of my work since I started landscape photography in 2003. If you would like to comment on any of my images, feel free to do so and email me, constructive criticism would be most welcome as this would be taken on board for improvement.

Chris Addis

March 2007