"Photography is the illusion of changes in light, shade and colour"

This week, Andrew Pratt shares some of his favourite photographs.

Andrew, who was born in Paignton in Devon and moved to Torquay when he was 11 and now lives in Comberbach, likes to take photos at Marbury Park and hopes to one day take a picture of the perfect sunset.

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A great crested grebe

When and why did you take up photography?

At primary school I went to London on a trip and borrowed my mum’s Brownie 127 camera. I took a picture of the Tower of London, looking up at one corner. I was really pleased with it and I wish I still had the print. I took a great photo of a grey seal pup on the Gower Peninsula when I was studying zoology in Essex and we went on a field trip to south Wales. I used to take photos and use them as slides during lessons when I became a teacher.

Over the years, photography has taken hold and I have gathered a library of images for interest and to use at work. I’m fascinated by technology and have had virtually every make and model of camera available – I often use a phone to take landscape shots.

I like to make minimal adjustments to images I’ve taken and will use software occasionally. Recently this skill has enabled me to explore another visual interest. I have intermittently painted water colours and I have experimented with taking photos of these and using photo software to manipulate the images. A year ago, reading a book by David Hockney, I became fascinated with iPad painting which has enabled me to use photographic format images produced on an iPad and then print them.

Reflection on the canal, Marbury Park

What do you love about taking pictures?

I always have a camera of some sort with me. Reading Hockney has made me more aware of what I am looking at - different angles, reflections and effects of light as well as shapes of buildings from our black and white architecture to Baron’s Quay. I love capturing movement. I am a published writer, predominantly of hymns and poetry and now use words and images in relation to each other enabling one to inspire the other. My writing has often sought to paint pictures with words. In lockdown I published a small book – Words, Images and Imagination.

A stork in flight

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Sunset skies

Where is your favourite place to take pictures and why?

While living in Comberbach, constrained by the effects of a heart attack and the pandemic lockdowns, I have been heartened by the proximity of Marbury Park. I try to exercise for two hours a day - camera always at the ready. I can place myself by trees and pause to observe wildlife or birds in flight, though I’m no botanist nor twitcher. I’ve occasionally dabbled in macro photography in the garden.

The Beast from the East

What is your favourite subject matter and why?

My greatest delight is to visit any stretch of coast, be it Llandudno or Bournemouth, Scarborough or Silloth. I’m constantly drawn back to the sea and memories of youth. Capturing sunsets in camera, watercolour or on an iPad fascinates me. It’s all about trying to produce the illusion of gentle changes of shade, colour and light using a static medium.

A dragonfly mid flight

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What do you enjoy about being part of our Camera Club on Facebook?

It’s wonderful to see other photographers’ work, to share encouragement and be affirmed. Having never been taught how to use a camera, I have so much to learn and I find the online fellowship is immensely helpful and friendly. And there’s always a chance of our work being showcased in the paper or online.

An afternoon at Marbury Mere

If you could photograph anyone/any place/anything, who/what would it be?

This is the most difficult question of all and I’m tempted to say that I’ll know when I see it! My family and friends will tell you how frustrating it is to be with someone who is constantly commenting on the line of buildings in the distance or the reflection of the water. I want to photograph the perfect sunset, looking west to sea. As the poet Norman Nicholson once wrote: “Let me, at the last, be blinded not by the dim, but by the dazzle.”

The Bull Ring, Northwich (Image: Andrew Pratt)