‘Above left: Andrew Holt from Farnham in Surrey specialises in black and white landscapes. He does all his own printing, normally using 12x16 inch Agfa multi-contrast Classic paper. This shot shows ‘a waterfall near Glencoe in Scotland and was taken with his 6xaem camera mounted ‘on a tripod and a red filter on the lens. The sky was burned in aftera straight expe with the rocks dodged slightly and th ‘and water lightly bleached Fuji GW690111, 1/8sec at HPS Plus ‘Above: Although he has only been into photography for six years, Nick Ingamells is. already earning money from it by taking photos for brochures and cards. He also supplies framed prints to the hotel trade in the Keswick area of the Lake District where he lives. ‘Business is building steadily ‘and I'm enjoying myself’ he says. This ‘wood of wild garlic is within sight of his house in Borrowdale riya RBG, 90mm, 1/4sec at Left: Recently made redundant, David Beatson from Aberdeen is now hoping to make a living from his photography and has, already had success with postcard printing. ‘My fist love is black and white, but | always carry colour with me as well’ he says. | concentrate on the west coast of Scotland ‘and this was taken at Lochan na Stainge, very near Glenct Linhof Master Technika 5 Super-angulonEe Jeff Teasdale has bee g landscapes for 35 years, particularly around Durham, Northumberland and North Yorkshire. ‘He likes to do unusual things lke go out at 4am to catch the sunrise’ says his wife. This picture ‘one of Northumberland’s many. tions, Dunstanburgh Cast taken at about April moming vari ‘8omm, tivo seconds at Below: This view of the Greek island of Symiis so attractive it's tempting to go straight to the travel agent and book holiday there. It was taken by Mr G B a keen photographer for the past 20 , from just outside his holiday apartment last May. Lucky chap. He set the camera up on a tripod and used a relatively long exposure to capture the ‘twinkling lights of the town at dusk lleflex 2.8GX, Fuji Prova 100 EUR PHOTOG! w/e 29 March 1997describes himself as a bit of a dabbler when it ‘comes to photography. ‘tm a lack ofall trades,’ he says. When he's short of inspiration he often heads along the coast from his home to Dell ‘Quay, Chichester Harbour in Sussex, especially if there's a decent sunset Here he used 2 graduated iter and an inverted sunset iter. He often uses the latter to add Below: Living in Guernsey, i's perhaps not surprising that Ni Després FRPS concentrates on seascapes. Taking photographs on the seashore, often at times cof day when few people are around, is vey pleasant and therapeutic” he says.‘ often use fairly lengthy exposures to convey some sense of ‘motion in the waves, and {always use my very heavy Gitzo 410 tripod Nikon F30, 80-200mr 19 March 1997 Pees AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER $1feredCea ed Se eer Ce a ee entan aX, 24mm des,Down to earth Acclaimed aerial photographer, Marilyn Bridges, tells Cathy Joseph why Egypt has been her most challenging project to date ASK ANYONE with wanderlust it had never been done on sich to name their top 10 dream a scale before, her new book of locations and the pyramids of the photographs has attracted Egypt along with an Agatha widespread attention from Christie-style luxury trip down archaeologists and art lovers, the Nile) will probably feature Bridges’ first foray into aerial among them, The sheer magni- photography was in the late tude of evidence of mankind's 1970s when she visited Nazca in ancient past begs to be experi- Peru to see the 2000-year-old enced first hand, earth drawings. The vast geom Froma photographic pointof etry of the shapes, figures and view, however, the antiquitiesof animals can only be viewed Egypt may prove to be some- properly from the air and thing of a challenge, even a Bridges, already a professional disappointment. How do you photographer, took a Capture the vast scale of the with her on the flight ancient monuments with to share what I'd seen but I'd no ke 35mm or even medium format? idea how to aerial What do you do about all those pictures. 1 home to tourists who arrive by the America and practised the tech. e explains, “The pic tures I took when I returned to sto convey? And how do Peru were made into an exhibi you attempt to add tonal inter- tion that toured the US and est to the ubiquitous sand? Europe for several years? The acclaimed American has been photographer, Marilyn Bridges, rial pho: found an answer to all these tography to portray the ancient questions, but not, unfortu of the world and has com. nate! way that can easily pleted several books and many be copied, She made her name exhibitions on the subject.‘A lot as an aerial photographer and of these sites are disapp the antiquities of Egypt are through land development among the latest subjects to 1 feel its important to make a benefit from her talents, And as document of them, to show the load and spoil the sense nique [34 AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER 9 March 191March 1997 Left: Pyramid of Khephren, Giza. This is one of my favourites. There's so much Information init besides it being a strong composition, says Marlyn Bridges. “You can see the sphinx, bit of the cty and people to give ita sense of scale. | wanted to convey the feling of being able to reach out and almost touch the yramid, which is 450 fet high | visualised the picture and cired round inthe aircraft until got what | wanted” ‘Above: Great Sphinx, Gina, 1992. We're all familar with close-ups ofthe face, hich is 500 years old. It was preserved fr so long because it was covered by ‘sand, but now that it has been dugout it’s subjected to polution from the road ‘Youcan actually se the parts theyve restored inthe picture! pitit of the land, and translate _ real form to the landscape and my feelings towards it, through the structures within it, She photography. first visited the country in 1984 (One of the factors which sets and persuaded a pilot at the Bridges’ work apart is her Egyptian Air Force training tunerring use of black and white. school to take her on a one- It gives the pictures a timeless hour flight over Giza, despite quality well suited to the sub- this being completely against ject, but there are practical the rules. It was midday advantages too. The earth ftom the high-key light and above often appears quite contrast were all wr ‘monochromatic with litle vari- photography. However, ety, You can create a more years later an archaeoloj sculptural quality using simple saw the pictures, commented light and shade, And there’ so on how rare they were and per ‘much you ean do in the dark- suaded her to continue work room by burning, dodging or —ingin Egypt. using a higher grade of paper— Bridges soon discovered just its much more fun, and why her pictures were archival, to0. These are impor- unusual - permission to photo tantdocumentsso itwould bea — graph from the air in Egypt was shame if they faded.” almost impossible to obtain. The monochrome approach ‘You cant simply hire an aircraft is particularly successful in the in Egypt because theyre wor Egyptian photographs, where _ ried you'll reveal military instal- excellent printing lations, she explains, For each AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER 35‘Above: Colosiof Memnon, West Bank, Thebes, 1985. coulda't wai o see these, which think look quite humorous. ‘wo gigantic figures watching the people and the traffic goby. had tobe incredibly low down fortis shot. taken from a halicopter whichis great for photography but very expensive and no good fo covering long distances’ ‘Below: The temples at Deir E-Bahri, 1995. like the detail inthe shadow areas in his shot which shows one ofthe most portant temples, built by Queen Hatshepsut [1473-1458 By’ the three visits she made from 1992 to 1993, six different ight clearances had to be granted from various bureai of the Ministry of Defence. Even then, she was often accompa- nied by an intelligence person to make sure she wasn't spying con military bases, Equally worrying was the ever-present threat of terrorist attack along the Nile at that time.’There was a real danger of being shot down during her cary lights, On one memorable ccasion, the pilot was so terri- fied that he pointed the aircraft towards Mecca and handed the controls to Bridges while prayed fervently! Fortunately Bridges’ many years experience as an aerial photographer allows her to Keep cool in such circum. stances. It also helps that she ‘a fully-qualified pilot ~ not just during emergencies, but also for getting the best pic tures. ‘I know how to slow plane dawn and manoeuvre it to get good shots and I take 19/229 March 199;over the controls if necessary, she says. ‘I never take pho: tographs and fly myself at the same time, though. T like to take pictures from the lowest altitude possible, so you feel you can almost reach out and touch the monuments. That requires stalling the speed ‘which is extremely dangerous to do while you're engrossed in photography Over the years, Bridges has honed her technique for shoot. ing from moving aircraft and her images are so crisp and sharp, you'd think shed taken them from a static balloon. ‘I always shoot through an open ‘window or door, sitting on the edge of my seat and leaning ut,’ she explains. “There are ways to hold the camera so that. it doesnt shake, You have to avoid leaning on any part of the aircraft and lenses of longer han 200mm aren't practical. 1 use both Pentax 6x7 cameras Rs with a range of ‘and 35mm: shorter lense There are some areas of aerial photography that are extremely difficult to control, such as lighting, Ifthe light is not suit- able for a land photograph you can usually return at another time or wait a while for it to change, Butwhen youre paying hundreds of dollars for one hour's lying time, the pressure can be tremendous. ‘The lighting is a real prob- Jem, especially if i's too bright,’ she agrees. ‘I try to go early in the morning or later in the day, Dut perfect conditions don't Tast long and by the time you've reached your location it can have changed. There's nothing more depressing than getting to a place only to see the light go down, Sometimes you spend a great deal of time circling and manoeuvring, trying out differ ent angles and directions to get sufficient contrast? This has been her most demanding project to date, without a doubt, but Marilyn Bridges’ Egyptian photographs have certainly been worth the trouble for the unique perspec tive they give to some of the ‘world's most precious treasures. Egypt ~ Antiquities from Above by Marilyn Bridges, is published by Little, Brown at £27.50 w/e 29 March 1997 lamic tombs near Beni-Hasan, 1992. ‘This was a total surprise and a bonus because | didn't know that these tombs, cut out of rock, were there. We were flying past and | noticed this wonderful pattern - the pilot was as surprised by them as I was’ ‘Below: Abu Simbel and Lake Nasser (overview), 1993. This was one ofthe hardest shots to get because it's quite distance {rom Aswan to Abu Simbel. The ist time we didn't have enough fuel to make it.The second time | went ina large Russian Ihlicopter and hung out on a gunner’ belt. We had to leave very early to ative at time when the sun was stil angled to bring out contrast. When the Nile was loaded, they moved this temple stone by stone to its present location’ For ales aerial pictures, Bridges uses ether a Pentax 645 camera o a 35mm SLR with a range of lenses and SO 400 film AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER 37apo zoom macro 70-300 nF 4-5.6 “« -. : The SIGMA 70-300 (APO) is the best Brena ces eee The vast majority of lenses on the market something to 300 zoom fo have passed today are of achromatic constriction. Thi through my hands so far.”’ stewart Bell, soon a atin elec eae Amateur Photographer Sharply focused, at the focal plane. 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