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Charlie Geater
@charliegeater
Landscape photographer based in the UK
I was always a creative kid and I would escape from reality into photographs and adventuring – choosing to make my own toys out of blue tack rather than use my regular toys. I guess this passion to create and mould my own designs was what led me to my love for photography. That and my love of film. Me and my dad would watch films together, all the time. We mostly bonded over this from when I was 12 years old and he introduced me to all sorts of cinema. I remember finding my dads cameras and being really interested in how they worked; I found them fascinating. This is where I began taking pictures, on disposable cameras, always excited to get the film developed.
"Although I didn’t really know it yet, I guess this is where my love for photography really started."
As for travel, we used to take regular trips to the Lake District and regular walks around clent hills with the family, in my hometown Birmingham. This is also where I fell in love with adventures, which ultimately led me to discover travelling. A lot of my love and passion for travelling and photography subconsciously has come from my father. I’ve never really given it much thought, but the holidays we used to take as a family, in the UK and abroad, were some of the best memories I have as a kid.
"It was a place of pure happiness, where we all lived in the moment together and it doesn’t really get any better than that."
Combining my love for photography and travel, I’ve taken up landscape photography as a hobby and a lifestyle choice. I work to save and travel. And while I can’t travel all the time, it is my dream to make a career out of traveling and photographing around the world. To document what I get to see and use the power of photography to share and tell a story. I love photography as an art form in general, so it’s hard to have a specific preference on a genre.
"But if I had to say, I’d definitely say landscape and portraiture is my passion."
My Instagram is full of both and I use it to share my work. Discovering what you are good at and what genre you favor is part of the journey. It’s a process, a path. Each genre I’ve learnt and grown from. Some of the techniques and skills are more transferable and others aren’t, but one thing remains; it’s all about the eye. This is why I love landscape photography the most. You can visit the same spot hundreds of photographers have visited before you and you can still find something you can make your own.
My editing has benefitted from a range of genres and my technical knowledge grows day by day and job by job. I will not shy from any genre, any more. I’ll pretty much try anything. That being said, I know it’s important to focus on a style and limit the genres you photograph professionally. Nevertheless, I’ve learnt that the more I’ve photographed the more confident it’s made me overall. I started out as a runner and camera assistant for corporate film where I was asked to do behind the scenes and product photography.
"It was the moment I realized it was something I wanted to pursue professionally."
After this I took a job working in a studio and I moved more into headshots, model portfolios and events photography. This was quite challenging; getting a studio job with absolutely no studio photography experience. I learnt on the job and fortunately I was surrounded by lovely helpful people that gave me the basics, for me to develop on. I became very good at it. I was considered a good photographer by many and I realized then that I could do pretty much anything if I set my mind to it.
"After a few years I decided to go freelance and combined all those skills and started taking jobs in all of those genres."
I then learnt interior and food photography as I began working for a photography agency. Throughout all of this I had a steady and strong passion for landscape photography so after lots of planning and deliberation, I made the choice to take a 4 month break and go traveling with my girlfriend to South America.
"Until now, many travels later, this travel throughout South America has impacted and influenced me the most."
We set out on a four month trip to explore the vast and untamed landscapes of different countries belonging to this continent. We started in Argentina, where we discovered the beauty of Buenos Aires and I also discovered that my Spanish was ‘no muy bueno’. Fortunately my girlfriend is from Paraguay and her first language is Spanish, a helpful translator and teacher as well as a companion, throughout the journey. Our next stop was Paraguay where we spent a few weeks in San Antonio, Misiones. We stayed on a farm with my girlfriends family and lots of cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats! We also decided to catch a bus and go to Iguazú waterfalls and visited the Brazilian side of the falls. It was nice to see a little bit of Brazil and see such amazing and vast waterfalls. After Paraguay, we made our next move to Bolivia, where the real travelling began. We were both somewhere we had never been before, with accents and people we didn’t quite understand. A highlight from Bolivia was definitely Salar de Uyuni. We witnessed the beauty of the salt flats and Bolivian Andes. Something we will both never forget. One more highlight from Bolivia was La Paz. A city in the mountains. Getting to the killi killi view point showed us views worth spending hours looking at. We literally spent hours there, till after sunset, to watch the stars come out.
"I think that Bolivia is where my photography really began to grow and my landscape skills began to flourish."
"Our next stop was Peru, Machu Picchu. A true wonder of the world."
A long four day journey of mountain biking, white water rafting, zip lining and hiking we made it to that famous spot where I took my own version of that famous photo. Perfect conditions and perfectly prepared I felt like my photography skills were growing and I knew I had found something I truly loved doing. After some deliberation we made our next move to Colombia. When we felt the need to be by the sea and sunshine we went off to Panama to find relaxation by the beach at Playa Venao. We stayed with my girlfriends step brother and family at his house and lovely resort by the beach. I was asked to take photos of his properties, beach bar and surf dojo and I was happy to give something back after receiving great hospitality from them. Our final stop was Mexico, traveling the Yucatán peninsular. A truly beautiful region where we visited many Mayan ruins and cenotes. It’s hard to quantify the impact of this trip but I know that it opened my eyes massively to different cultures, languages and showed me that I wanted to spend the rest of my life traveling and photographing as I go.
"So I guess you can say that this trip changed my life and ignited a passion in me for traveling and photographing."
"Nothing seems better than being with my camera and my girlfriend exploring and adventuring this amazing planet and sharing it with the rest of the world."
Me and my girlfriend have big plans for the future – traveling the world next year and find somewhere to settle – and we hope to realize them. Social media will be a big part of making that happen. It is a platform reaching millions of people everyday. It’s a place to be inspired. It’s a place to learn and most importantly it’s a place to connect with people and spread a positive and loving message. A lot of social media can get a bad reputation but I believe it’s the way we use it that impacts that. We can use it to share love and support. Inspire and create. Connect and discuss. It really is a wonderful medium with massive possibilities. My main goal is to find my path and share it on social media;
"I want to create a community where people feel supported and encouraged to pursue their dreams."
"My skills and ambitions and those of my girlfriend intertwine. She is currently doing a masters in environment, development and politics with dreams of setting up an NGO."
We will travel for a while adventuring and learning and we will take opportunities as we create them and as they arise. We want to benefit the youth of the world and inspire everyone to pursue their dreams. This will be our motivation while adventuring. To be able to do all this, would make me the happiest and I know that it would make my Mom and Dad proud too. I believe in pursuing dreams and to be appreciated for my work would be a dream achieved. Having followed Steve McCurry since my parents bought me his book when I was 16, I’ve been certain that doing something similar is what I wanted to do with my life.
"I’ve been pushing myself to be better and to be fearless, which brought me on this path towards making my dream reality."
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