May's Photographer of the Month - Theo Carter
‘What can you tell us about your winning entry into our photography competition?’
I visited Sri Lanka for three weeks last summer to explore the country whilst expanding my photography portfolio. On my first day there we arrived at the beach just as the sun was beginning to set and after a quick swim I had this idea for a photo. It took about 100 attempts and my head was spinning by the end of it all! It got easier as the sun got lower though and the last photo I took was the winner.
You can see Theo’s winning entry here.
‘Have you managed to try out the GoPro you won with your entry?’
I have indeed – I love all action sports so it is perfect! I recently took it skiing in Italy with me, which was amazing, and I can’t wait until summer to get it strapped onto my windsurfer too! I also used it for a bizarre timelapse of making a three-bird roast (something I do not recommend!), which is on YouTube and I have another time-lapse running at the moment. I haven’t bought a selfie stick for it yet though…
I am also currently exploring the use of it for aerial photography – strapping it to my quadcopter to give a whole new perspective to my photography!
‘How did you get into photography?’
I’ve always loved taking photos since I was very young but it wasn’t until two years ago that I got my first DSLR, which has completely changed things! I love the capacity that it gives you to play with the settings and the potential this unleashes to really compose your own photos rather than relying on automatic settings. My dog, Bisous, has been the perfect, ever-willing model for me to practise on!
I’ve also recently created a website to showcase some of my work – www.silkstonephotography.com
‘What do you enjoy about photography?’
I am naturally a very outdoorsy person and grew up in the countryside but having a camera with you does just makes you look at the world in a whole new light, especially when viewing things from the air! I love photography though because it gives me an excuse to wander and explore, something I would find it hard to do without a motive, which is great cause otherwise I’m stuck in a science lab all day!
‘What are your plans for the future?’
As I said before, I am extremely interested in aerial photography – an industry that is really taking off! I’d like to try and combine this with wildlife photography, which is my other main area of interest. One example of a video I have made can be found here.
I’m currently studying Material Science at Oxford so once I graduate at the end of this year I am hoping to build myself a more advanced platform for this kind of work and then see where it takes me!
