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Paul Watson
@paul.watson.photography
Landscape photographer based in England
Introducing Paul Watson
Seeing the northern lights is a dream for many but for Paul Watson, it was what led him to the dream he is living now as a photographer. The first time he witnessed the lights he sat in a hot tub and only had his phone. His friend though had a DSLR and Paul stayed up all night figuring out the camera to capture the aurora. Ever since, photography sent him on wild adventures and converted into a passion he’s making a living with nowadays.
After having faced his early challenges of understanding the editing process and finding his vision, photography never gets really easy: “Be prepared to put a huge amount of blood, sweat and tears into your work”, Paul says. In the interview he gave several tips to make it work and how to deal with the reality of a photographer. Social media may provide an incomplete perspective of what it is to be a landscape photographer; Paul explains the continuous challenges and how he is living his dream anyhow. Gratitude and finding his time to put his camera down are important practices for him. Both the love and the effort he puts into his work is what leads to successes.
While continuing learning himself, Paul is fond of mentoring other photography enthusiasts in the Peak District. “Seeing people’s faces when they’ve nailed a shot and then watching them bring their shots to life further in Lightroom is equally satisfying for me”, he mentions. Photography has a great educational power and is a tool to generate awareness of our planet among its inhabitants, including his two little daughters. Paul enjoys small adventures with them and seeing the eldest snapping away photos of birds and rainbows.
In this interview, Paul shares his photography journey, and five of his pictures he’s taken along the way that he is most proud of. As always, it’s the story behind a photograph that counts.
Interview
Welcome Paul! About 3 years ago you began sharing landscape photographs on a regular basis on social media. Where does your passion for travel and photography come from? Maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself?
Firstly I’d like to say thanks for having me. I’ve always had an interest in exploring and even photographing, to some extent, but my love was really ignited on a holiday to Iceland in 2013 with my wife and some friends. We were sitting in a hot tub just outside Reykjavik and the northern lights started dancing overhead, I was in complete awe. With no idea about photography I naively jumped out to get my phone and gopro to grab a shot, and obviously failed miserably! A friend of mine had a DSLR and a tripod and took a quick shot that blew me away. The aurora then disappeared and left me thinking about how much I wanted to try to get shots of my own. By this point it was getting very late and our friends called it a night, but they offered for me to borrow the camera and gave me a very brief run through of what aperture, iso and shutter speed were, put the camera in manual and left me to it!
"My wife and I sat up all night and my oh my did we get our rewards! The aurora came back and put on a crazy show until the sun came up and I managed to get loads of snaps."
I felt so natural holding the camera and just caught the buzz there and then. At the time I thought the photos were the best thing since sliced bread but have since realised that they were pretty awful!! Following that break in Iceland I saved up for my own camera and the following year went traveling to Australia and Fiji, then later in the year went back to Iceland and just couldn’t put the camera down. My love for photography and my determination to get a better photo than my last escalated from there, as well as a new found passion for travel and exploring.
Over the past few years you have been on a life changing adventure chasing your dreams! We can clearly see that in your Instagram feed. What led you to transform your hobby into a full time career?
My passion for photography started encouraging me to visit new places and sent me on some wild adventures. In January 2017 I started documenting them on my instagram feed. I had no intentions to make this my career at first as my dream was just to shoot and see as much of the world as possible through my lens. However, I’ve realised how much I really enjoy sharing photography and transferring my knowledge to other people who have the same passion. This has subsequently led me to set up my own photography business and run my own landscape photography workshops.
You have traveled to many countries and seen some of the most exciting landscapes in the world. In this regard, I am sure you have experienced some incredible moments as well. To this day, which has been your most remarkable experience shooting outdoors? What made it so special to you?
The first time I witnessed the aurora was probably the most special memory but since I’ve had more of an understanding for photography I’ve had so many amazing experiences. Arriving at Moraine Lake in Banff, Canada, for the first time in the pitch black, and seeing it slowly come to life as the light lifted was insane. I had seen so many photos of it and knew exactly what it looked like, but just seeing it for real was mind blowing. Driving into the Icelandic highlands for the first time was also a remarkable experience and watching light hit that incredible landscape just gets me every time.
I know the following might be a complicated question, but let’s give it a try! 🙂 Could you share with us five photos you are really proud of? Can you tell us why you select these photos specifically?
That is certainly a tricky question!
I’d pick this first shot from the famous spot in Hamnoøy, Lofoten. Although it’s a shot that every photographer and his dog has taken, I am proud of my shot here as the wind and rain was outrageous. I was soaked through to the bone and the wind was blowing me off my feet, as well as being bitterly cold. However I grit my teeth and braved it out there as I really wanted to capture something a little more dramatic than the golden light shot you would usually see from here.
This shot from Old Harry Rocks in my home country, England, is one of my proudest shots as it was taken on my first ever visit a few years ago and it’s an angle/composition that I had never seen anyone else shoot. This image did really well on social media and was shared a crazy amount of times, it has also even been published in a book!
This third image is from Reykjanes in Iceland. It’s not one of my favourite ever shots, however, I’m proud of it as it was, at the time, another original composition of an area which isn’t so well published on social media, I hadn’t even seen a drone shot from here. I actually found this particular composition purely by chance as I had a few hours to kill before my flight home so I decided to explore the area and came across this incredible ‘Mars’ like scene. It’s becoming more difficult to find unique shots in places like Iceland so I’m always happy when I manage to get one.
I’m proud of this next one because of the determination I had to get it. I stumbled across this scene in Lofoten when driving to Reine from the airport. It was my first time in Lofoten and I noticed an area from the car with what, I imagined, would be a really cool icy foreground. I went down there and got a shot and was super pleased with it, but just couldn’t stop thinking about getting an aurora shot from that spot. I returned exactly one year later and planned to get the shot I had in mind, and although there was no icy foreground I waited it out in -11C and finally got my reward.
Finally, this drone shot from Henningsvaær in Lofoten. The reason I am proud of this one is because in 2018 I entered it into the National Geographic photography competition and it received a ‘judges favourite’ award and was published on their website. I love the shot myself and I’m equally proud of it because I had never been there beforehand, and I literally had 10 minutes to park up, take the shot, and then catch a flight!
We would love to know more about your artistic progression. What challenges did you face at the beginning and what are the challenges you face today with the genres you are shooting? Besides tons of practice, which resources/strategies did you use to get better at outdoor photography?
I’d say the early challenges were finding a unique and consistent style of editing when I wasnt that familiar with editing software. I find that this is no longer so much of a challenge now I fully understand Adobe Lightroom, have a vision of what I want from an image and have developed my own style. However, I have found that consistency can still be an issue as my style is continually evolving and I am exploring a variety of destinations with very different environments. I never feel like my work is perfect, and I always see room for improvement, so I think that mindset is the best tool to have for improving.
As a result of your hard work and dedication you have mastered landscape photography and now others trust in your skills as a teacher. You host workshops in Peak District, teaching your tips and tricks behind the camera and unique post processing techniques to create epic landscape images. What do you like the most about teaching others in such a unique location? And what do you find yourself emphasizing/explaining a lot since it seems to be a common error that participants commit?
Thank you for the kind words! I definitely wouldn’t say I’ve mastered landscape photography as I think there’s always room for improvement. I feel that I’m gaining confidence in my photographic ability now, but one thing I do like to say to my workshop attendees is the day they feel like they’ve mastered photography, is the day they stop improving as even the world’s elite can continue developing. I absolutely love mentoring and sharing the photography experiences with enthusiastic budding photographers. Seeing people’s faces when they’ve nailed a shot and then watching them bring their shots to life further in Lightroom in the weeks after is equally satisfying for me. The Peak District is a perfect location for this as it’s in the middle of the UK, the locations are all easily accessible and I know it well having family from Nottinghman and Derby, and have spent a lot of time there as a child. To be honest there’s no common errors in students that I’ve noticed, everyone is completely different.
Finding your first clients as a photographer can be challenging, especially at the beginning. Yet, in a short period of time you have worked with well known brands in the industry. What strategies allowed you to gain the confidence of your past clients? I am sure our readers would love to learn more about that!
In all honesty, this is one area that came as a surprise to me as I had never thought doing product photography and influencing would be an option as I was initially so focussed on landscape. However I had some brands contact me and ask me to collaborate with them as they loved my work. Although it was daunting to start with as it was a completely different way of shooting and there are briefs to be met, I actually found that it is something I love doing, and as with anything you love, you tend to put a lot of time and effort into it, and then often with effort comes reward, and it just so happened that it didn’t take long for some big exciting brands to come knocking!
I have only ever reached out to two brands myself and the rest have found me through my instagram. So if anyone reading this is hoping to collaborate with brands I would suggest you always put 100% effort into your work, don’t be afraid to reach out to brands you love and you may get a lucky break.
Nowadays we see many young photographers pursuing a career as a landscape photographer. What four pieces of advice would you like to share with them? We love sharing this question on Instagram, so please feel free to elaborate the answer as much as you want!
1) Be prepared to put a huge amount of blood, sweat and tears into your work before you see any returns. There are many people with the same dream and it often feels like there are few ways to make good money these days without a strong portfolio, and this takes time to build up, and means spending a fair amount of money when you consider the cost of equipment and travelling etc.
2) Be versatile – sometimes landscape photography alone isn’t enough to pay the bills (well for me anyway!) so try to develop your skills in other areas of photography that are more likely to give you a steady income, such as product, portrait and events. You can certainly incorporate products and portraits into landscape photography quite easily, and this is something that can be very appealing to brands.
3) Don’t be fooled by the Gram! This is more based around social media than landscape photography directly, but it’s no secret that there seems to be a culture on social media where we are perceived to be ‘living the dream’ and the truth is that it’s not always the case. Photography can be high pressured and stressful, so that person you see sunning themselves on a beach in Bali, or road tripping through Europe, are most likely working their socks off around the clock to deliver quality content for their brands, as well as regularly posting on multiple social media platforms to keep us all engaged. I have often found myself on trips fueled by coffee and a couple of hours of sleep, shooting from sunrise to sunset, planning, driving, hiking and editing in order to meet deadlines. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it and I’m so grateful that I get to explore and work in such an amazing way, but it can honestly be really hard at times, and I wish more people would tell you this so it doesn’t come as such a surprise.
"It’s an incredible job but it isn't always easy."
4) Enjoy yourself. We all start off pursuing landscape photography because it’s an awesome excuse to get outdoors, see the world, breathe in the fresh morning air and experience this amazing planet in a different way. No matter how far into the industry you are, always take a step back from the camera every now and then to just take it all in. It really is the best job and such a rewarding way of living. Also, as I’ve mentioned previously, the more love and effort you put into your work, the more your passion will shine through and this will naturally draw clients to you, but ultimately work hard and enjoy every minute!
We read that you have a daughter. To what extent do you think that photography can be a tool to teach kids about the importance of nature or can be used for wider educational purposes related to the conservation of our planet?
That’s right, as well as dedicating a huge amount of my life to photography, I am also a family man and actually have two young daughters, Lottie and Pippa. I believe that photography can play a huge role in teaching children, and adults, about our world and make them want to protect it. I can definitely say for me personally it has given me a new perspective, and taught me to respect nature and want to preserve the beauty that surrounds us. In the past I have taken it for granted, but I’ve found that being amongst nature, while shooting, has made me appreciate all of the fine details that are often overseen, and witnessed first hand the effects of climate change. Sharing my work on social media has enabled a wider audience to also discover and learn about places that they may not ordinarily have the opportunity to travel to, and it connects us all as inhabitants of this planet so we can share the responsibility of looking after it.
"My eldest daughter, Lottie, is only three and already has her own camera!"
She loves taking it out with her on our adventures, and snaps away at all of the exciting things she finds from ladybirds to rainbows. I hope as she grows up she too will understand that humans can make positive changes to this planet, and that she will continue to respect it and be in awe of all of the things mother nature has given us.
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