Ian Cameron

Type of photography: landscape
Personal website: http://www.transientlight.co.uk
Country: Scotland, United Kingdom
Camera type: film

Please introduce yourself. How old are you, where do you live and what is your job?

Name: Ian Cameron, born in Kent, England in 1962 which makes me 47 years old.

I travelled the world with ruc-sac and 35mm film based camera for two years in 1996, returning briefly to Sheffield, England and thereafter joined the Police in Scotland, primarily because the shift work would enable me to get out into my beloved scottish hills on a regular basis. Four years ago I set up Transient Light my own photographic business which luckily enough for me flourished. I went part time in the Police and then two years ago I became a full-time landscape photographer running workshops selling prints and doing commissioned work.

I now have my own branded Scottish calendars and a book published in conjunction with Outdoor Photography magazine which I'm delighted to say is doing pretty well. Currently I live 25 miles east of Inverness in Forres with my wife and two young children.

How long have you been taking photos and what brought you to photography?

I have been taking photographs for 25 years, approximately eight years on a semi-professional basis and two years as a full-time professional. I specialised in landscape and travel for the last eight years before then anything I liked that made a good subject. I've always loved being outdoors what ever the weather and I have seen some remarkable places and seem to be able to empathise with them. Since I couldn't paint photography was my sole means of expression and I used it to capture the essence of what I was seeing. The results for the first four or five years were decidedly iffy.

Have you had any formal training in photography?

I've had no formal training and have no letters after my name all I've learnt is from other photographers mixed with trial and error and books a naturally enquiring mind always meant I was asking how or why?

You are one of the best photographers of Scottish landscape, how much time do you spend in the nature?

I devote my life to two things my family and my photography, combining both at the same time is difficult but I manage it most times, one useful truth is that the light tends to be at a premium at either ends of the day when my children are tucked up in bed so I can often get away to take pictures without impinging on their time. Never-the-less the truth of the matter is that the business side of photography takes up 50% of my photographic time, so I probably spend an average of one to two days a week taking pictures on average.

What is your favourite place in Scotland to take pictures of?

Scotland offers countless opportunities but for sheer variety my preference would be the wilder extreme north around Inverpolly and Assynt.

How important is the role of light in your pictures?

Light is without a doubt the sole driving force of my particular style of photography and my preference is for something I refer to as transient light which is occurs for the briefest and most exquisitely sublime moment. Whilst composition and subject matter paly vital roles too, I honestly believe you could photograph a rusty nail in great light and come up with an exquisite picture, get all three components working in harmony and the result is beyond superlatives..

What photographic equipment do you use?

A steam driven medium format film based Pentax 67II with 55-100 zoom, 90-180 zoom, and 45mm lens and a set of Hi-tech neutral density graduated filters, I occasionally use a polariser too and I meter with a separate Pentax digital spotmeter. I use Fuji Velvia 50 film exclusively, the whole lot is mounted on a 3531LS Gitzo tripod married to a RRS 50mm ball head with quick release, a very stable combination.

What do you do with all of your old slides? How do you archive them?

My slides hang in fire proof A4 filing cabinets, there are approximately 50,000 top grade transparencies and I seem to be able to find anyone of them within a minute. I scan them as I need them on a Nikon 9000ED medium format film scanner using the glass carrier. Most of my work will never see the light of day, that doesn't particularly matter to me, if I stopped taking pictures today I could probably make do with existing stock for the rest of my life, I just choose not too.

How much space do your old slides take on your hard drive?

My 16 bit RGB scanned files are finished off with minimal adjustments in Photoshop to match the transparency as viewed on a calibrated light box and then reduced to 8 bits and left un-sharpened, they each occupy around 90MB. To date I have only scanned and saved about 750 transprencies. You can work out the maths.

Do you plan to switch to a digital camera in the future?

A lot of folk believe I am anti digital, true I use an film camera exclusively but I do so out of personal preference and choice. Digital is incredibly important to me as my replacement for the darkroom, I can only applaud its versatility and shudder to think about my dark room exploits and chemical poisoning that I undoubtedly would have had to endure but for the digtal revolution.  For landscape work I prefer the look of film, I also prefer the artistry of achieving the result I like while out in the field and believe it makes me a better photographer for it. In short film gives me what I want, it more than meets my clients expectations in terms of quality, I see no reason presently to change. If it ain't broke why fix it.