About Me
My interest in photography goes way back to the early 60s when I acquired my first 35mm camera. I received my professional training 
courtesy of the British Government at RAF Cosford, Shropshire, England. My ambition at the time was to become involved in intelligence photography within the British Government. I never quite made it to a fully-fledged intel’ photographer but I did do a lot of nail-biting undercover work in Northern Ireland in the early 70s.
I’ve never been keen on taking photos of people, as we’re always complaining about the way we see ourselves. I took up taking photographs of Sea/Landscapes and generally all other things that caught my eye. These categories were perfect for me as they don’t answer me back. I’ve been shooting Landscape and Seascapes for over forty years now and still enjoy the hunt for that perfect shot. Oh, I should say here, I do occasionally photograph people, and, when given the chance, wildlife and nature too. I must admit, I don’t have much patience and spending hour upon hour waiting for an animal to show its little head is not my thing, but I do admire the photographers that do.
My Equipment
Up until the mid-1990s, I had always used Nikon cameras and lens as they were extremely robust. When digital photography became popular in the late 90s, I made the switch to Canon and their lens, why, because Canon’s image sensors were superior to the Nikon sensors. The ability to shoot in extremely low light with the modern Canons couldn’t be beaten. I am currently using three Canon bodies, a 60D half frame, a 5D Mk 111 full frame and the newest addition a 50 mega pixel 5Dsr that I use most of the time when shooting commissioned work. Recently, I’ve had the opportunity to use the lightweight mirrorless Sony A7 R Mk ii, what a beautiful (and expensive) camera. As a landscape photographer I naturally walk a lot, so I travel light with only three lens, a 17-40mm L Series Canon that I use as my standard lens, a 17 -105mm Canon L Series and an L Series Canon 70-200mm. I’m shooting more and more portraiture images these days so I’ve become partial to an 85mm Canon L Series lens for that. Shooting HDR shots (High Dynamic Range) usually requires a tripod, I seem to be shooting more and more HDR shots these days so I have a small but robust light weight tripod that conveniently affixes to my travel bag which, when I’m out and about, is perpetually attached to my shoulders. My wife says I was born with my camera bag attached to me. I also travel with an assortment of other odds and ends i.e. a remote control and a full range of lens filters etc. I only shoot in RAW format and do all my post image processing in Adobe Lightroom and occasionally Photoshop. I use Photoshop less and less these days but it can still cover a multitude of sins and bad mistakes.
Bowing to numerous requests from friends and fellow photographers, I have uploaded some of my favorite images from 2015. I took well over nine thousand shots (according to my frame count) in 2015, some I am contractually not allowed to show, especially of the commission for the NY Historical Society. I did sneak one in though, can you spot which one? I have also added some of my personal favorites from the past, both general and local. Please let me know the ones you like and if any, the ones you don’t…. I’m not perfect and I learn something new about photography every day. I will kept posting and changing out images over time and I will add a captions to the uploaded images next week.
Enjoy!
Steve Beech
December 2015