Nick Jenkins Photography

Jun22022

First published in Welsh Country Magazine, March-April 2012

Wales. A country where I have lived pretty well all my life, and I am still discovering places I have never heard of or visited.

I love capturing landscapes and nature and there is so much in this little country of ours to explore with my camera. I am constantly on the look out for form, texture, shape and indeed anything which captivates me.

Some years ago I created my photography business, Freespirit Images, the name seeking to explain what I do best being a free spirit and seeking out beautiful images. My photographs featured in quite a few of the first Welsh Country magazines, as well as in books, postcards, greetings cards, calendars and as full size prints and canvasses. I secured a commission with AA Publishing that took me all over the country, from Snowdonia and Anglesey to Pembrokeshire and across to the Wye Valley. I sought out both well known and lesser known locations and tried to put my own slant on my images. It is all too easy to simply raise the camera to eye level and take a snap (although there is nothing wrong at all with that approach). So I would walk or drive around my location to seek out the best angle. I would often time my arrival for dawn or sunset to capture those beautiful and subtle colours and try and convey the scene in a way that was different from the expected.

This has developed to the point where I now offer photography holidays (around Wales and elsewhere) where I take keen photographers to carefully chosen locations and spend time with them to help seek out a viewpoint that is different. I also explain what the camera can do to help form that image, whilst stressing that it is the photographer who SEES the shot, the camera merely capturing it the way the photographer wants.

I run Freespirit Images as a successful photography business but also make it my business to NEVER lose the passion I have for capturing the essence of where we live. If I could sum up my driving ambition it might be that I seek to MAKE pictures, and not simply TAKE pictures.

1. Catching sun rays over the Bristol Channel from Ogmore by Sea. 2. The very last light over the Brecon Beacons, looking towards Waun Rydd. 3. Sandstone cliff at Laugharne. 4. Nash Point on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast. 5. Waterfall in the Elan Valley.