Completely self taught, Sam chooses to shoot primarily on 4x5 and specialist panoramic cameras, using film many times larger than a 35mm camera, allowing beautifully detailed enlargements to be made. By shooting at times of twilight, particularly pre-dawn hours, Sam is able to capture nature at its finest, moments where the world comes alive with vibrant textures and colours, created by nature without the use of coloured filters or digital manipulation.

"I choose to shoot all my landscape photos on film and using only natural light.. there's a much greater sense of satisfaction in knowing that what you have captured really happened, that the vibrant colours and textures seen by viewers were a moment in nature that i've been lucky enough to witness."

At only 26 years of age Sam's images are sure to become increasingly sought after as recognition for his natural abilities continues to grow.

Behind the Photo -

People often ask me how I achieve such intense and often obscure colours in my photography, in the digital age it's a common perception that I probably just waltz out to a location, push a button and use photoshop to make things look pretty. Whilst it is possible to do this to some extent I really believe that the results never look as breathtaking or realistic as a true photograph. Certainly I find no satisfaction in sitting behind the computer, i'm a photographer, not a graphic designer. The range of emotions felt when walking through bush alone in the dark at 4:30am, often hundreds of kilometers from "normal" city life is something that simply can't be matched by computers.

The process -

Taking a great landscape photo involves a lot of time, patience and expense.

During daylight hours the light really offers nothing to work with, thus this time is spent searching for locations and compositions. When traveling it's not unusual for me to drive hundreds of kilometers in a day, quickly checking location after location until I find an area that grabs me... when it does, I know it. Once I find an area I like the fun begins, hours may be spent visualizing different compositions, taking in all the minute details one learns to see as to why a photo may or may not work. Eventually I will decide upon one or two compositions that I feel capture the spirit of the area.

The hard part - getting out of bed at 4:30am!

The next morning begins the first of many early rises, if you want a good landscape photograph get used to it! Although I must admit that every time my alarm goes off I can't help but think "maybe I'll just lay here a little longer" i've learnt that in this game it's a bad idea.

Upon waking I make my way to the location and begin setting up my camera. At this time it's still pitch dark, I use a torch to see what i'm doing and to set focus, aperture etc. Now it's time to relax and let the show begin. It's amazing to watch the light slowly creep into the day, the changing hues of the sky and the atmosphere it creates. At one moment everything will come together, the contrast between the land and the sky will balance and I know it's time to get to work. At this time it's important to work really quickly as the right light usually lasts no more than 5 minutes, often the length of one exposure. It's nerve wracking to know that you've really got one chance at getting it right but the adrenalin has hit for what is the most exciting time in the whole process.

After some carefully light metering and quick calculations the exposure begins, the hard part is predicting how the long exposure will be affected by the changing light, something you learn to feel and take into compensation during the exposure. I hold my breath and hope that I haven't made any mistakes. As the exposure draws on I continue to re-meter to see how the lights changing, new readings are put into the equation and I constantly re-calculate the right exposure time. Most of my photos range from 2 to 15min exposures so it can be very hit and miss.

By now the exposures over and all you can do is watch as the colours fade and the world as we know it begins. It's time to walk out of there, eat breakfast and start looking for some more compositions!

But wait... it's not that easy!

The problem is that more likely than not the early rise has lead to nothing. The vast majority of times I'll go through this routine, standing in the dark with my camera set and ready only to be rewarded with nothing, no nice light or colours and no photograph. Perhaps 1 in 10 mornings I might actually take a photo, the rest of the time I walk away disappointed, this however is what makes finally capturing that elusive image satisfying. It's the times when all the elements come together that keeps me coming back.

I hope you enjoy my work and appreciate the effort that has gone into capturing such images.