KIRK NORBURY

Kirk originally from Southport, is now living in Ayrshire. Growing up he lived on a farm & enjoyed drawing and painting and the outdoor life. When he started at college studying graphic design, he had to choose another subject, and he chose photography as an extra. He didn’t particularly enjoy it at first until the 2nd year where he states a light switch turned on after starting to photograph wildlife. He quit his job at B&Q two years ago to become a professional photographer, specialising in landscape and time-lapse photography.

Composition is a key part of an image for him. Leading lines especially is his favourite composition. Adding layers within a shot helps to make it a 3D effect. Sometimes simple images work and do not need to adhere to composition rules.

He showed images from both the UK and especially Iceland. He explained that the preferred Golden Light can last for a couple of hours in Icelandic Summer months rather than just a couple of minutes as in the UK. His preferred method is to shoot wide, and does a lot of long exposures, but admitted there is a lot of trial & error. He shoots in manual, composes & focus to begin with, then takes test shots. He uses an iphone app which calculates exposure times once a filter is put on.

He enjoys taking night sky images, and as a starting point advises 14, 16 or 24mm lenses at f2.8, ISO 1600, shutter 25secs. He uses another app to show him where and when the Milky Way is. If it’s a clear night, he suggests to just get out and photograph the sky regardless if the moon is out or not. The UK gets its fair share of Aurora’s so there’s no excuse!

Big part of his photography is taking time-lapse images, which he explained a lot of patience is needed to shoot just a few seconds of footage which can take hours of real time. He showed us the equipment needed and how the camera was set up, and explained that 250 images at 25 frames per second is equal to 10 seconds worth of video footage!

He has a YouTube channel where he has various video’s including many on how to create timelapse video’s – well worth taking a look at.

Many thanks to Kirk for showing a different side to photography.