The winner of last month's photo competition was Ben Churchill with this stunning image. We asked him a little bit about the photo and his journey into photography. We were amazed by some of his answers and how quickly he has progressed into great photogprahy.
Here is what Ben had to say:
"The photo was taken at one of my favourite photography locations Compton Abbas.
This location has breath taking views in all directions allowing for sunrise or sunset photography.
If the weather moves or looks better in a different direction I can move to a different valley within a few min so i’m in the right direction.
I’m a regular visitor here.
I bought the
Nikon D5600 18-55 kit lens which has proved a difficult lens to work with in terms of focusing and picture quality. However I quickly found the lens sweet spot and a few Lightroom work arounds and I feel I got the best image I could given my ability from the camera.
I used a Zomei tripod I got from eBay all of which was for a Christmas present for my partner a keen photographer to replace her very old Sony.
Unfortunately she recently broke her leg and I stole the camera and really took to photography.
We’ve had some photography location challenges as I’ve pushed her in a wheelchair up steep hills and woodlands for bluebells and garlic photos.
I even lost her in the woods once, she’s finally laughing about that, I’m also a lot fitter now.
I started my photography journey in January 2021 so this really is a new hobby for me and I’ve an awful lot to learn but I’m looking forward to constantly pushing myself to improve. I’m ADHD and need to learn rapidly to keep myself engaged so I watched 100’s of hours of photography tutorials on YouTube then went out daily to put into practice what I learnt with many failed attempts and frustrating moments.
I traveled across the county for photography once and forgot to pack the camera, I laugh about it now.
I’ve been practicing as many photography techniques as I can and endless hours of Lightroom and photoshop tutorials so I can edit the photos as best I can.
I grew up in Poole and have a regular morning job and by lunchtime I’m sat in my recording studio writing and producing music or recording for my radio show.
My work allows me enough free time to venture out and capture the beautiful county that we live in.
On a final note the photography bug has well and truly bit me and I’ve recently upgraded the camera to a Canon EOS RP 24-240 going mirrorless which I can’t wait to use.
My partner has a photography blog for top locations in the area more locations being added all the time.
I’m very pleased and honoured to have won this competition and look forward to visiting Castle Cameras for a tripod upgrade."
