lumasphere.art
This is a selection of photos I've taken as a hobby, from my very first shots before GCSEs through to my A level portfolio and beyond. The close ups were set up at home with a flash and whatever I could rig up. The landscapes are a mix of early starts I planned and walks where I just happened to have the camera with me.
As a kid I thought the big film and TV cameras were the coolest thing going, and I'd try to copy shots I'd seen on screen. When GCSE options came round I realised photography was something I could actually study, so I took it, then carried it on at A level.
At college the tutors printed a selection of students' work for an open day, and some of mine went up on the wall. Since then I've kept shooting casually, and that's where most of the photos here come from.
Today I don't really do spontaneous. If something catches my eye I'll make a mental note, think it over, and come back later with a camera and a plan. The close ups are shot at home, because a studio is really just anywhere you can control the light. The landscapes were all taken in the UK.
Italian for light and dark. Bright light against deep shadow, with each shot built around a single light.
A school friend, big Star Wars fan, swinging a toy lightsaber through a long exposure. We walked the old railway line out to the tunnel with a tripod and tried a few different exposures. If I shot it again, I'd end the exposure with a low power flash on the figure, masked and dressed all in black, and a stronger flash on the tunnel walls.
Plain grey smoke from an incense stick. I put a flash on one side and a reflector card on the other, and that much light let me keep the whole plume sharp. The green was added afterwards in editing.
Red, green and blue: the primary colours of every screen and camera sensor. This is a remake of an earlier attempt, shot about a year later once my skills had started to catch up with the idea.
Flowers, leaves and berries. Same idea as everything else: find where the light falls and let the rest go dark.
A rose from a bouquet. I picked out the best one I could find and took it to my "studio", which is really the home office: a flash and softbox on the right, and a second stand with a clamp holding the stem.
One of my early photos. I cut a sprig from the bush, brought it home and lit it with a flash and its built in diffuser.
A trimming from a plant we used to have outside, lit from above with a flash and a snoot to keep the light tight. It was an experiment I dismissed at the time, then found again while going back through old photos. A bit of work in Lightroom and it came out alright.
The same light and dark, just spread across a whole valley instead of one small thing.
Summer 2024, and pretty much the only proper photo I took that year. I drove out at about 3am to set up and wait for the sunrise. The fog sitting in the valley and a sky that vivid were a complete coincidence. More luck than judgement.
One of my very first photos, taken before my GCSE course had even started. Dad had bought me a camera, I got bored waiting, so I went out to teach myself. Pure luck, plus far too long in Lightroom. The school later showed it in an assembly to Year 9s picking their options, which is ironic, because they didn't teach me that one. I only found out on the bus home, when a few people said they'd seen it and liked it.
Like the chiaroscuro shots, but in white instead of black. Fog does the job shadow normally does: it hides everything except the bit worth looking at.
Another early one. I happened to grab the camera on my way out for a walk, and this was one of the shots that came out of it.
I already knew this block of forest was there, so when my A level portfolio called for landscapes, I went back to photograph it.
Technically numismatics is the study of coins and money. Here it's mostly an excuse to get really close to old metal and watch the light catch the detail.
The 2016 Team GB 50p, stood on my laptop screen so the glass doubles as a mirror and the swimmer gets a reflection to dive into.
The 1972 silver wedding crown, a coin I was given, and my first go at focus stacking: several shots focused at different depths, blended into one sharp image. It isn't perfect, but it's how I learned to do it.
The back of an old 50p, up close enough that every scratch and worn edge on Britannia starts to show.
Got a question about a photo, or just want to talk photography? Drop me a line.