ABOUT

The Artist - Cath Evans

Hi, and welcome to my photography website. If you enjoy looking through my photographs even half as much as I enjoyed taking them, then we're on to a winner!

I never really knew what I wanted to do for a career just that I didn’t want a 9-5 office job…ironically, thanks to digital photography, I spend far more of time in my office than I’d like. I used to work as part of the behind the scenes production team in the often frenetic TV business making sports programmes - which I loved. Unfortunately TV jobs are few and far between outside London, and I love being in the countryside and by the coast. An encounter with some beautiful landscape photography on the other side of the world inspired me to pick up my camera.

I love to photograph the coast at both sunrise and sunset. I love the clarity of the light and if I was to be pushed for a preference, I think dawn just edges it for me because of how peaceful it is by the sea and how clean and free from footprints the sand is! The changing light reflecting off the wet sand always puts a silly grin on my face…I just love it!

Landscape photography is about more than the final photographs you see on my website; it’s a way of life. It’s about being out in all weathers, researching locations, seeing and responding to the light and capturing that moment. Of course there’s an element of luck but by being outside in pursuit of a photograph the chances of getting a great shot increase.

A little bit of me goes into each of my photographs. I’m incredibly self-critical and a perfectionist. If my heart’s not in it then 9 times out of 10, the photograph is deleted because it just doesn’t evoke any emotion in me when I look at it.

I came across this quote from a great photographer which sums up the way I feel about my photography too.

“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” Don McCullin, Photographer.


Photographic Equipment

I use a Canon 5D Mark II for all of my photography. It’s one of the best digital SLRs on the market and has a 21 Megapixel full frame sensor enabling me to photograph a wide tonal range, maximise detail in the shadow and highlight areas and print large photographs.

A variety of Canon L series lenses

Lee Neutral Density Graduated Filters & Polariser

Manfrotto tripod & head

Keeping it Natural

Every photograph I take has to be processed on the computer in order to accurately portray what I saw. This is true of everyone who uses the RAW format as opposed to JPEG (used by all compact cameras and a lot of SLR users).

I use Photoshop to adjust the levels and contrast of an image but I don’t mess with the integrity of the photograph by inserting things that weren’t there at the time of the exposure including different skies. I keep them as authentic as possible.

For me, photography is all about the light. If it’s poor then I find it incredibly difficult to compose a photograph. I can see the potential of a place, which means I have to return when the light is better. Because of this I am unable to ‘see’ a photograph and create the light later in Photoshop as some photographers do. All the light and colours of my photographs are as they were at the time of capture. I use ND grad filters to control the contrast and exposure at the time of capture but I don’t use coloured filters.

My most recent exhibition hammered a few things home… I learnt things about myself and those who enjoy my photographs. My photographs look great BIG. There is no point composing a photograph with lots of depth and detail and then only printing it as a 10x8 or A4 print. Therefore I have decided not to sell my images as small prints. Unfortunately the same problems are true of websites. Photographs definitely lose their impact on a website and sadly my photographs are often overlooked because of this. My photographic style just looks better bigger. Unfortunately there's not a lot I can do about this, except to assure you that I maintain a very high quality from capture to print which ensures that my photographs look stunning when printed....and if you're not happy, you can return your art work.

Anyhoo, thanks for taking the time to look around