About & Contact Me
Whether it's brooding, wild and stormy, or reflective, calm and serene, the sea stirs something deep inside me. A wide horizon inspires a sense of freedom and adventure. The wild and powerful drama, laced with a latent menace lurking in a raging tempest. The incredible hues and reflections in a spectacular dawn or dusk. Being beside the ocean with a camera makes me feel alive.
The call of the sea has been there since I was a kid back in the 60's. From swimming, snorkelling and fishing, to surfing, kayaking and diving, the sea is in my blood. And the more time I spent in, on or under it, the wider my understanding and appreciation of its seasonal states and elemental moods has grown. And this experience and knowledge has proved invaluable in my image making.
And as for photography, my father and both grandfathers were keen amateur photographers, so this too was in my genes. At school the influential Head Of Art, Mr Bowerman, took me under his wing and gave me free rein of his jealously guarded Photography Department. Here an Olympus OM1 SLR and endless rolls of Ilford B&W film saw me developing my camera and dark room skills. Under his guidance, I learned to use a camera and the printing processes as creative tools to be freely experimented with rather than observing any rigid, mechanical doctrine. An attitude that became firmly engrained in my photographic psyche.
Upon leaving Art College in 1984 I got a job in a West End studio to serve my apprenticeship in the dark room before moving on to a career in Advertising & Design. This saw me art directing a wide range of top photographers, alongside gaining my own commissions.
By 1990 the digital studio had revolutionised graphics production and I had embraced the amazing imaging capabilities of Adobe Photoshop. However, I shunned the ugly hybrid digital cameras with their temperamental operation and dodgy image files. Instead I doggedly insisted on using film and hi-res scanned imagery for professional work. Keeping the digital medium for pack shots and family snaps.
That was until the full frame sensor and Raw file technology came along. In 2009 I finally succumbed to digital and my photography transformed overnight. Not only on the commercial side, where the lucrative income stream was brought fully in-house. But down on my beloved tidelines where my DSLR set me free!
No longer would frame counting shackle my impulse to shoot. There was no more changing film on storm-swept beaches. The exposure triangle was rounded off by the ability to change ISO at will. All this in conjunction with a range of Lee ND filters, a powerful flash gun and my experimental photographic psyche, began to work wonders!
In 2011, after being cajoled into entering - as photo competitions are not my thing - I won the coveted 'Cornish Point Of View' award. This gained wider recognition and led to my first solo Seascape exhibition in 2012. I created a brand around my leaf logo - that shapes my initials to a leaf symbolising how nature draws energy from light - which underpinned the ethos behind my work. I launched my first website with an online shop that promoted image sales, and subsequently went on to win another Cornwall-based competition run by a regional Oil Company - after more cajoling! Thereafter, in the two years I entered, 2015 & 16, I had eleven of my seascapes shortlisted for Outdoor Photographer Of The Year.
So Cornwall features prominently in my work. I first visited in 1974 on a family holiday and immediately fell in love. With its clear, turquoise sea and vast golden beaches, clutching my snorkel and fins, fishing rod and belly board, I was in my element. When it came time to go home, I precociously promised that one day I would live here.
After taking on photographic commissions and adventures all around the UK and abroad, I finally kept this promise and in 2013 I followed my dream. Today, from my studio on Cornwall's magnificent Atlantic Coast, I range far and wide, searching for drama and dynamic atmospherics at remote and unspoilt coastal locations. I still travel extensively but the Celtic coasts always draw me as I continuously extend my seascape portfolio.
Alongside Commercial commissions and Limited Edition image sales, I run Cornish Seascape Workshops. Over ten years this course has gained an international reputation for reward and results. This is because all the skills I have gained in my professional career and the wide experience of such close and extended contact with the coast, come together in this unique residential course. Please visit the 'Cornish Seascape Workshops' section for more information.
To contact me about any aspect of my photography and services you can email me at -
chris@c-simmonsphoto.co.uk or call me on +44(0)7850 569 409
