articles/Nature/tonypickcoastalimages-page1

By Tony Pick

Tony Pick Coastal Images - part 1 of 1 2

Published 01/02/2009

When SWPP member, Tony Pick is not behind a camera or in front of a computer he can, more often than not, be found in the local lifeboat station. A volunteer member since 2001 he is currently one of the navigators for the all-weather boat. He allows the RNLI to use some of his shots for postcards and promotional purposes.

Tony feels that the secret to becoming a successful photographer and gallery owner is that you really do have to diversify and use your local knowledge to your advantage. He started off imagining that his seascapes and landscapes would be all he wanted but has come to realise that he enjoys all aspects of the photography he does and that is the main reason he loves his work so much!

We opened our first gallery in 2001 having moved from Hertfordshire to Aldeburgh, in Suffolk, in order to realize this dream after a successful career as a press photographer. The original gallery was a quirky old boathouse on the beach which was great at the time, but it was soon too small, so we moved into the high street three years later, and a much more prominent position.

My initial idea was to make a living from selling my own seascapes and landscapes. We quickly realised that images of the surrounding area were much better sellers than generic shots of the coastline and so I began to concentrate on those. Whilst we were in the beach gallery I had a framed portrait of our eldest son on the wall (who was a baby at the time) and someone came in and asked if I would photograph their children. I did this and word spread that I was taking commissions for portraits on the beach. We were incredibly naive at the beginning and had a rather steep learning curve which meant that we learnt a lot, very quickly. We initially gave customers prints to look at in order to make their selection but due to the rural nature of Aldeburgh, each trip to the lab took about three hours! I was shooting on film in those days.

Whilst the portrait side of the business was quietly growing, the seascape and landscape side was flourishing and I was able to extend on my collection of images with the changing seasons. I converted to digital in 2002 and although I do miss the days of shooting sheet-film on my Ebony 5" x 4", it is amazing to see the results you can achieve now with the help a D2X (upgrading to the D3x?) and shooting RAW, processed through Lightroom and Photoshop.

• By Tony Pick
  
  Tony Pick Coastal Images page 1
  
• Tony Pick Coastal Images page 2
  

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