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Alan Lait
Alan is a UK landscape and outdoor photographer, based in North Yorkshire, who has followed his interest in photography from a young age; starting from his first 35mm film camera, to now using DSLR and mirrorless digital equipment. From his enjoyment of the outdoors and climbing mountains in the UK, Alan has a passion for creating images that capture the mood and wild beauty of the landscape and has spent the last 10 years refining his photography technique. He is always happy to provide advice and tuition to those starting on their own photography journey and currently has an exhibition of his work, on the theme of Lakes and Mountains, at the Joe Cornish Gallery, where he is a contributing gallery photographer.
My first introduction to landscape photography was while climbing mountains in the Lake District and at the time, it was just a hobby and my images were a record of where I’d been, rather than something I considered a creative pursuit. As I focused more time on refining my photography skills, it became more of a passion and an invaluable balance to the daily challenges of work and sometimes of life in general.
I now find photography to be an important creative outlet and on occasions, it’s helped me pull through some dark and challenging times. For some people, it might be music or painting but for me, it’s creating images that represent the environments and places I love and feel a connection to. It’s something I do for my own enjoyment and of course, it’s always a pleasant bonus if someone else appreciates an image. Maybe they see the same thing I did when I composed it, maybe they derive their own meaning from it – either way, it’s brought a sense of enjoyment to someone else, which is a pleasant side-effect but never my original intention.
I’ve often been told that my images portray a sense of calm and maybe that’s a result of what I find rewarding in an image or what my eye is naturally drawn to. That’s not to say that all my photographs are of peaceful scenes. I also enjoy finding interesting abstracts or compositions with dark, moody skies but maybe some of my own state of mind still comes through in the resulting images.