Digitalab Featured Photographer: Neil Young

At Digitalab, we appreciate the power of photography, whether it’s personal or professional. We asked Neil Young for one of his images and posed a couple of questions to find out exactly what it is he loves about photography and what he’d say to any enthusiastic photographer hoping to make a career out of their passion.

Tell us a bit about this image and why you chose it to be featured.

My first DSLR was a second hand Nikon with a kit lens, bought from a good friend about 3 years ago and I was keen to get started on this new hobby.

It was recommended that I visit Brimham Rocks in North Yorkshire. A great place with oodles of subjects to photograph and to cut my photographic teeth on I was told.  To be honest, when I got there I was clueless. I could not see anything worth photographing. The place was just a warren of overgrown bushes and strange shaped rocks.

So with that in mind, I have chosen this image as it was taken 3 years later in October this year at Brimham Rocks with better gear, I am a little less clueless and my eyes have been opened to what is around me.  I feel that this is good measure to how I am progressing as a photographer.  I love the composition, the light and the mystic that the place holds. It was also technically challenging as the light in the sky was fading fast and threatening darkness, so I was under a little pressure to take the image quickly.

Which styles of photography most interest/inspire you?

I must have been through almost every photography phase as a novice, over exposed HDR, Infra-Red, Light trails for example. But I have finally settled into Landscape and I feel comfortable there.  Living near Durham, I wanted to show local people that a short drive in any direction will place you in some of the best scenery in the country, Pennines, Yorkshire, Cheviots and The Northumberland Coast.  I want to show people what they are missing and that waterfalls, hills and great vistas are a short distance away.  If I had not bought that second camera, I would not have known most these beautiful places existed either. It must have been the best £100 I have ever spent.

What one piece of advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?

My advice is that you should be prepared.  Check your gear the night before. Check the weather, look at the location on Google Maps, where are the parking areas, check tide, sunrise and sunset times. Use the ephemeris to establish where the sun or moon will be at the subject location. Being prepared will help you get to the location on time and prevent you having to rush, possibly in the dark at an unfamiliar location in early hours of the morning.  There is nothing worse than getting to a location too late and you have missed that light or spectacular sunrise.

Neil Young Photography