Our special guest this time is Howard, the webmaster and photographer of www.beautifulbritain.co.uk.
Howard is a talented photographer of the British Isles, and his beautiful desktop wallpaper and screensavers
are available for free on his web site. Make sure you visit Howard's web site to pick up some great pictures and screensavers for your desktop!
Tell us a bit about your background: How did you become a photographer?
Some of my first photographs were taken in the mid 1950's when I was about 10 years old. Yes, I know it's a long, long time ago! Everyone in those days seemed to start photography with a Kodak Brownie box camera, and I was no exception. A couple of years later I decided to have a go at processing my own film and prints. There's something quite fascinating about watching a print 'develop' in a dish of chemicals from an apparently blank sheet of photographic paper. Eight years ago I had the opportunity to take early retirement from my career as a Primary School Head Teacher (Hurrah!) and was able to rekindle a hobby that had remained dormant for years. I'm now onto my second digital camera. Digital photography is truly wonderful and is the biggest advance in photography since Fox Talbot (inventor of the negative/positive photographic process) took the famous first 'negative' picture of the window at Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. I've got a picture of the famous window as well. You just have to do these things! In the last six months alone I've taken almost 3000 pictures. Digital photography is so compulsive. Patrick Lichfield, the world famous Royal Photographer now takes nothing but digital pictures. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!
What drives (or inspires) you to do the work that you do with your web site and photography?
The web site, like the photography itself, is just a hobby, not a commercial venture. It started off (two years ago) with just a few pictures of our local area and in the first week it received only 5 visitors! The site now averages more than 3000 visitors a day, and increases each month. The most popular section of the Beautiful Britain web site is the 'wallpaper' section, and this has generated e-mails from all over the world. The Internet is such a brilliant way to share interests and give people an insight into countries they might never get the opportunity to visit. The inspiration to keep it all going is the response from the site visitors with comments such as "This is the most beautiful site that we have come across." "Your pictures are so beautiful." "Stunning!" "What a brilliant web site. This surely is one of the best constructed and friendly sites that it has been my pleasure to view." It's not true, of course. There are many far superior amateur web sites on the Internet, but it's nice (and inspirational) that people say these things. I now spend as much spare time as possible visiting as many places as possible to create as diverse a set of photographs as possible. Maybe it's the curiosity element ("I wonder where he's been this week?") that makes people keep coming back? It's a tough life visiting these beautiful parts of Britain!
In your opinion, what's the most important thing a person can do right now to tap into his or her creativity?
I've always hankered after having some specific creative talent and would love to be able to sing, dance, play a musical instrument, paint, or draw. Sadly, I can do none of these things (or maybe I could if I put my mind to it?) Developing the website and seeing the interest that the pictures have generated make me realize that maybe I do have some creative talent after all!
(Note from Kathy: Howard's too modest. His work is truly inspiring!)
I think that generally my pictures now are better than they were when I first started the web site as I now have something to aim for. Some people's skills are working with people, rather than creative talents, but they're skills nevertheless. If we could just harness all these individual talents for the benefit of mankind, what a wonderful world we could create!
Are any of your photos for sale? If readers wanted to buy some of your work, how would they go about it?
The pictures are for people's enjoyment and are captured at a resolution that makes them suitable for Internet use rather than for large prints. I have recently been approached by a calendar company, a mobile phone company, educational publishers and other organizations about the commercial use of some of the pictures, but the site still has to generate its first revenue! I think that's probably because I haven't sought or promoted the site as a commercial venture.
Anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
Britain is a small country, but there's such a vast range of scenery, from the remote flat lands of North Norfolk to the Highlands of Scotland, with so much more in between, all within a few hours' drive. The mountains are not vast, like the Himalayas or the Rockies, and the lakes are mere puddles compared with the Great Lakes of America, but it's all in proportion, and it seems to work! American author Bill Bryson wrote his book, Notes from a Small Island, whilst he was living in the Yorkshire Dales (the area in which I was born). He loved Britain, returned to live in America for a few years but is back to England, living in Norfolk. In Notes from a Small Island he says, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. I like it here." I'd agree with that!
Thanks, Howard, and continued success with your beautiful work!
© 2004 Kathy Sanborn
Past Guest Interviews
