Photography has helped me achieve a long forgotten, impossible dream

Steve Dale lives in Winsford but grew up in Northwich and he retired from a career in education in April 2020.

He is now an award-winning photographer running several groups on social media and has some of his images on display in a local gallery.

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Steve Dale

When and why did you take up photography?

My photographic journey began in the 1970s when I was a student at Sheffield University and I used to be a rock climber and mountaineer. We always carried cameras and photographed each other climbing as well as the amazing views while perched on the rock faces. I took a break until 2015 as digital photography had started to take off towards the end of the 1990s. I bought a camera and was instantly hooked again but I was reluctant to share my images until a friend persuaded me to join Facebook. I’ve won photography awards and now run several Facebook groups for amateur photographers. I still find it difficult to understand that, in the last three years, I have become a top, international award-winning, amateur photographer, with a global reputation as an artistic and creative photographer and I have some of my images up for sale in a local gallery. It's been an incredible rollercoaster ride and I have, somehow, achieved a long forgotten, impossible dream.

What do you love about taking pictures?

I love capturing moments in time. I like the creativity of it all, the way it enables me to represent the world I see and how I see it, and the challenge of capturing difficult lighting. I also like the challenge of making the ordinary, unnoticed, unseen become extraordinary and beautiful. I once described it as catching the essence of what I see.

A close up image captured in the back garden in Winsford

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Where is your favourite place to take pictures and why?

I don't have one. I have travelled extensively in Britain, Europe, the western United States and New England taking photographs, but in all honesty, beauty is all around us if we just take the time to look. I've taken many fabulous photographs in my garden, down the road from where I live, and in the most unexpected places.

The Salt Mine, Meadow Bank

What is your favourite subject matter and why?

Anything from the smallest flower in my garden to the geometry of modern city architecture is beautiful and I’ll photograph it. My main influences are the pioneering American photographer Ansell Adams, Impressionist painters and Van Gough. I like the use of colour by the Austrian architect Hundertwasser and the cubist painters. I love minimalist, zen and contemplative photography, which is reflected in some of my images. Similarly, I'm very much into contrasts, textures, tones and experimenting with perspectives and approaches.

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The picture appeared, like magic, through the developing liquid

A solitary leaf taken in the front garden

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

I joined the group at the start of 2021 when my photography was taking off. I had discovered that I liked sharing my photographs with others but wasn’t in any local groups. What I like about the group is that it's all inclusive and photographers of any level or standard can post their images. I realise the importance of seeing other photographers' images, gaining ideas and inspiration, and giving encouraging comments. If my images inspire others and my responses to other members’ images support and encourage them, then I'm happy.

Up close on Little Budworth Common (Image: Steve Dale)

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

I would like to travel around the world, photographing what I see. The list of places I would like to go and take photographs is lengthy and I will never visit them all. I would like to return to western America and spend more time photographing Yosemite, Zion and Monument Valley. I’d love to spend a few days photographing New York or travel the length of New Zealand and then visit Iceland. I'm happy talking photographs wherever I am, be it at home, in the UK or abroad.

Dramatic London skies