About The Photographer
Born in 1948, Philip Selwood discovered a liking for photography while travelling in the States taking many “holiday snaps”, most of which were consigned to the bin!
It was while visiting New Zealand, and by using a tripod, did he find that a more methodical and slower approach in deciding how and what to take led to a feeling of becoming part of the landscape.
Once asked how do you take your photographs prompted an amusing story about an experience in Zimbabwe.
“We were sitting in a hide overlooking a water pan in Hwange National Park Zimbabwe and decided to spend the whole day there, about 10 hours, just waiting.
During this time there were at least 8 or 9 visits by different tour buses and each time the tourists would jump out of the minibus, climb quickly up the steps and take a few photos if wildlife happened to be there drinking.
Sometimes their timing was poor and the pan was quiet but it seemed that the tour guides were always keen to move on to the next location chasing the wildlife.
We sat and waited all day and were rewarded with a breeding herd coming to drink and play. (link here to the images?) While the other visitors were rushing around trying to find that elusive shot it sometimes pays to just sit and wait….especially when there’s plenty of shade and water!"
This experience resulted in one of my favourite photographs which you can view here
Showing your (hopefully?) best images at an exhibition can be daunting as you are inviting praise or criticism, and you can feel vulnerable. So when the first visitor comes to your display and looks at one particular photo only to say “This is creepy…it gives me the shivers…I don’t like it” you start to wonder have you chosen wisely!
Well…this really did happen to me, but literally within 1 hour another person looked at the same image and described it as “calming and serene”. It was this experience which prompted the phrase “It’s not how I take the photograph, it’s how it takes you”
That example has always stayed with me and made me realise we all have very different tastes in what we perceive as a “good” photo. In the case of landscapes it can be our own life experiences which cause very different reactions to the same image.
Now married to, Sopha, a lovely Thai lady, a return to photography using digital cameras, and a tour of Thailand and New Zealand is planned to capture more images for this gallery.
Philip is also active in two other company’s, details of which can be viewed on the links page.
Equipment used
Starting with a pair of Canon T90’s and the following lenses, Canon 20-35, Canon 28-135 and Sigma 60-300 (I think!...it was a few years ago!)
Then made a big leap to using Canon EOS 1N’s and the following lenses:
Canon US 20-35mm F3.5-4.5
Canon IS 28-135mm F3.5-5.6
Canon IS 75-300mm F4-5.6
Sigma 170-500 F5-6.3
The tripod used is Benbo
Now for digital…
It was while visiting New Zealand, and by using a tripod, did he find that a more methodical and slower approach in deciding how and what to take led to a feeling of becoming part of the landscape.
Once asked how do you take your photographs prompted an amusing story about an experience in Zimbabwe.
“We were sitting in a hide overlooking a water pan in Hwange National Park Zimbabwe and decided to spend the whole day there, about 10 hours, just waiting.
During this time there were at least 8 or 9 visits by different tour buses and each time the tourists would jump out of the minibus, climb quickly up the steps and take a few photos if wildlife happened to be there drinking.
Sometimes their timing was poor and the pan was quiet but it seemed that the tour guides were always keen to move on to the next location chasing the wildlife.
We sat and waited all day and were rewarded with a breeding herd coming to drink and play. (link here to the images?) While the other visitors were rushing around trying to find that elusive shot it sometimes pays to just sit and wait….especially when there’s plenty of shade and water!"
This experience resulted in one of my favourite photographs which you can view here
Showing your (hopefully?) best images at an exhibition can be daunting as you are inviting praise or criticism, and you can feel vulnerable. So when the first visitor comes to your display and looks at one particular photo only to say “This is creepy…it gives me the shivers…I don’t like it” you start to wonder have you chosen wisely!
Well…this really did happen to me, but literally within 1 hour another person looked at the same image and described it as “calming and serene”. It was this experience which prompted the phrase “It’s not how I take the photograph, it’s how it takes you”
That example has always stayed with me and made me realise we all have very different tastes in what we perceive as a “good” photo. In the case of landscapes it can be our own life experiences which cause very different reactions to the same image.
Now married to, Sopha, a lovely Thai lady, a return to photography using digital cameras, and a tour of Thailand and New Zealand is planned to capture more images for this gallery.
Philip is also active in two other company’s, details of which can be viewed on the links page.
Equipment used
Starting with a pair of Canon T90’s and the following lenses, Canon 20-35, Canon 28-135 and Sigma 60-300 (I think!...it was a few years ago!)
Then made a big leap to using Canon EOS 1N’s and the following lenses:
Canon US 20-35mm F3.5-4.5
Canon IS 28-135mm F3.5-5.6
Canon IS 75-300mm F4-5.6
Sigma 170-500 F5-6.3
The tripod used is Benbo
Now for digital…