Simon Marlow - Photographer of the Month - September '18
Introduce yourself
I’m Simon Marlow, a Nature and Wildlife photographer living in Berkshire. I’m a Digital Delivery Manager who manages teams of Mobile App Developers and Business Services teams. I’ve always been a keen Nature and Wildlife watcher since my childhood when I was brought up in the Devon countryside. Before moving to my current job, I was in the Royal Air Force for 23 years working in IT and Logistics.
How did you get into photography?
Ever since my childhood being brought up in Devon, I have a passion for the countryside and all the varying nature and wildlife contained in it. I bought my first digital camera in 1999 which was a new top of the range Olympus C840L at a massive 1.3 megapixels.
Since then, as my photography has improved I’ve moved to Canon DSLR’s, starting with the Canon 350D and now currently using a Canon 70D matched with the Canon 100-400mm IS II telephoto lens.
I was also a Canon mentor at my local village camera club over a 4 year period, carrying out presentations and instruction on taking better photos.
What can you tell us about your entry, ”You can take my picture, but I’m going to be cheeky!” in July’s photo competition?
This image is of an Emperor Tamarin Monkey, it was taken at a safari park in the UK. When I first pointed my lens at the Tamarin, it seemed fascinated by its reflection it could see in the lens glass. As you can see from the picture, it really played up to the camera for me, pulling various poses whilst poking its tongue out.
Do you have any particular style of photography you specialise in?
I’m best known for images of wildlife, being a Wildlife photographer can be very challenging and this is what I specialise in. It provides many challenges, from having to get up very early in the morning to see the wildlife at it’s most active, to trying to track birds as they fly past to get them sharp in flight.
What do you enjoy about photography?
As I enjoy the great outdoors, I love being able to be amongst the nature and wildlife and record it in my photos for others to see. I’ve also travelled quite extensively with my time in the RAF and various holidays where I’ve been to locations with amazing wildlife.
Tell us about one of your projects
Last year for my 50th birthday I was treated to a photography trip to one location I’ve always wanted to visit, the Farne Islands in Northumberland. It was an amazing day which saw me take over 4500 photos of Atlantic Puffins, Guillemots and Grey Seals amongst other species. Since that time, images taken on that day have been featured at National Geographic and have won a number of competitions.
If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring photographers what would it be?
Never be afraid of ‘Manual’ mode on your camera. I learnt so much about ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture and how they affect image quality from switching to using manual mode on my Canon. It’s a steep learning curve at first and you will suffer from things like images that are too bright (over-exposed) or too dark (under-exposed) but you’re using a digital camera after all so can delete and try again.
Where can we see your work?
My work can be seen in various locations online, my Instagram feed is always up to date, I can be found under ‘uniquephotoarts’. My personal website is www.uniquephotoarts.com and I started a business at the beginning of the year using my photography to create a small selection of products.
The business is called ‘Unique Photo Products’ and can be seen here. I’m also a regular contributor to National Geographic and my portfolio can be seen here.
An image I took of a Barn Owl flying through a meadow (below) was featured across a whole single page in The Times newspaper on 10th July 2018.
Do you have any plans for the rest of the year?
I am due to be moving house in the near future into the countryside of Shropshire, very excited about all the wildlife photography opportunities I will have in this new location.
