My name is Barry Wakelin. I am a husband, father and director of an IT company and have lived in Hampshire, England all of my life.
I began photography back in 2002 off the back of learning astrophotography. I began by using a digital SLR camera which was a great learning tool but I soon realised that I needed better resolution, finer tonality and the wonderful colour response that is only available from film. Having switched to film photography I have never looked back.
As a keen walker and cyclist I enjoy travelling to wild and remote locations under my own steam and this provides me with the opportunity to capture exciting images, often at the times of day when others are tucked up in bed. These times are magical. The transition between night and day is a particularly inspiring time, a time when waters still, clouds can create formations never seen during daylight hours, the most dreary of plants can become frosted jewels, the birds still their morning chorus and the world literally changes in a matter of minutes. Capturing those fleeting minutes have become some of the most intense and enjoyable moments of my life.
In more recent times I have had the opportunity to set up my own darkroom which has opened new and exciting opportunities for creativity. In particular, the creation of lith prints has offered me more scope for artistic interpretation of my black and white images. Every lith print is utterly unique and hand-crafted over many hours. No two lith prints of the same image can ever be exactly the same even when they are developed and toned one after the other. This for me is both exciting and brings me closer to the original nature of the image. Nature is never still and two apparently similar images captured seconds apart can be different in composition, tonality and colour. Lith printing helps highlight these differences and reminds us that for all mankind's attempts, the landscape remains beyond our total control.
I hope that you enjoy viewing my galleries and that you might be moved to buy a print. If you would like to e-mail me I am always delighted to receive feedback.
