Jack of All Trades

Paul Gallagher

Paul Gallagher is recognised as one of the most accomplished landscape photographers and workshop leaders in the UK today. He has been a writer and lecturer in photography for over thirty years and runs both field and printing workshop nationally and internationally.

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Many times, I have questioned what it is that inspires me to be out with a camera. The most straightforward answer to this question is being out in the landscape. I love it and always have, and to make photographs of landscapes is my main inspiration. I really do want to share with others what I have seen through the medium of photographs.

To be honest, if this was my sole form of inspiration, then I think it would have worn thin some time ago because I have never been particularly good at sharing my work, certainly before social media existed, which has been in existence only a short part of my career. Therefore, there were other forces in place making me get up and explore with a camera, as opposed to simply enjoying my time being in the wilderness. Having thought about this, I have not simply made photographs of the landscape, but I have made photographs of different parts of the landscape, each of which has excited me.

I vividly recall the excitement of being at the coast, and with an unstoppable desire, assigning all of my free time with my camera to simply heading away from land until it had all but ran out. I remember travelling to different beaches and bays to experience the white sands or the textures of the geology. I have an inventory of locations, all marked on maps that I returned to time after time, but which somehow are now left alone - but not for good.

I arrived at the same conclusion with mountain landscapes.