‘Stand‘
Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year – Four Seasons Award winner (Autumn)
Last October was a month I will remember with intense clarity. My dad was fighting an aggressive cancer, some big changes were happening in my work and social life, and I was in the depths of a fairly intense period of mental illness.
Everything felt to be crumbling, yet something new and good was stirring inside me. After a summer of commissioned photography work, I had a short few weeks free for some personal photography before the start of the winter wildlife guiding season. Perhaps it was inspiration born from a need to escape, but I found myself fixated with shape and form in a way that had never happened to me before. I shot almost everything on the same lens and for a short while everything seemed effortless, and October 2016 became the single most successful month of photography I’ve ever had. (Read more in this interview with TGO Magazine).
It also marks the point at which photography really started to become a major part of how I make my living, and consequently the start of a total change in how I perceive myself as a photographer.
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Making the grade, paying my way
In all truth I can find working in photography immensely intimidating. There’s an endless number of brilliantly talented photographers out there, all now able to share their work far and wide every day via the internet. I often find myself swamped in self-doubt at my own abilities and wondering if I have any hope of keeping up. ‘Standing out from the crowd’ for me has now evolved from being a simple case of seeking recognition, to being a crucial part of sustaining my income.
We enter competitions in search of validation of our talents. I try not to take them too seriously, but they become just a little bit addictive once you’ve seen some success.
It was huge surprise when I got the email informing me that I was one of the category winners in Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. I’m honoured to have been chosen amongst an exceptionally talented collection of photographers. It isn’t my first success in a major national competition, but to echo something Lee Acaster said in his latest blog, there is something really special about seeing your images in the big coffee table books produced by these awards.
I have been overwhelmed by the response I’ve had to the image since the results were announced. In particular I’m delighted that so many people have said the image ‘draws you in’, as that was my intent. I was looking to convey seductive silence rather than vibrancy.
And now, a few weeks after the initial euphoria, what has come from this win? If anything it’s given me a renewed energy to try harder, keep on my toes, and make the absolute most of being able to follow a childhood dream.
Congratulations to all the other winners and commended photographers – particularly Nick Hanson, Christopher Swan, Dylan Nardini, Lizzie Shepherd and Greg Whitton, all of whose work I greatly admire, and fellow TGO Magazine contributors Dougie Cunningham, Damien Shields and Stewart Smith.
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Image technical notes
Nikon D7200
Shot on the (ever wonderful) Nikon 50mm f/1.8g
1/40 sec at f/8
ISO 320
JAMES RODDIE PHOTOGRAPHY 