David Ward creates images that ‘respond’ to the world around him, rather than merely ‘representing’ it. His landscape photography often resists the conventions of the art – line, form, texture and colour hit you first – rather than a familiar place, shot from a classic viewpoint.
As he says in his book ‘Landscape Beyond’ (2008, Argentum): ‘I don’t feel the need to achieve a specific target, to tick a box and say that I have taken an image of a particular place. When I set out to make images I do so purely in a spirit of enquiry…’
Delving deep into the graphic qualities of the world around us, David’s work reveals beauty that is often overlooked. This ‘eye for detail’ – is sometimes referred to as ‘intimate landscape’. But don’t assume David’s work is confined to the ‘small’ – the details often provide an immersive counterpoint to a larger vista.
Childhood holidays in the Lakes and Cornwall spawned David’s love of landscape – which married with photography when he first watched a print bloom into life in a developing tray. Accepted for the prestigious ‘Film & Photographic Arts’ course at PCL in London, David graduated in 1983. Commissions for the BBC, and Country Living led on to 20 years in editorial and advertising photography.
A chance encounter with Charlie Waite led to David leading his first photographic workshop – something he had never imagined. But teaching photography in the great outdoors proved to be both enjoyable and creatively stimulating. Since 1999, David has run over 200 workshops and tours all over the world, and he says he still looks forward to the next!
You can find more of David’s work at: www.davidward.photo, as well as on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Guests are welcome to join his Zoom session for a small fee – book your place now at:
www.kirkbymoorside-camera-club.co.uk/programme
