I have been a professional photographer in various fields since leaving school twenty-seven years ago. Firstly, as a photo-reporter for a small south Wales newspaper then as a Ground Photographer in the Royal Air Force. Since 1990 I have worked as a freelance location specialist for a number of corporate, architectural and publishing clients on commissions all over the world.
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A year spent travelling in 2001 changed the emphasis placed on my work. I went from east to west in the USA, down the Pacific edge of South America, the length of New Zealand and to eastern Australia. Even though backpacking I still managed to carry a panoramic and medium format cameras and shot many hundreds of film rolls. An exhibition of this body of work was shown at the Greystones Gallery, Glenridding on Lake Ullswater in spring 2004.
I now divide my time between undertaking client commissions, carrying out arts based photographic projects and leading treks for an adventure travel company. I also work with schools and community groups within Cumbria teaching a variety of photographic techniques
My largest arts project to date saw me spending the entire month of October 2004 walking the fells of the Lake District. During the arduous trek I kept a journal and shot just two monochrome images a day on a large format camera. My work was stripped to the bare bones and brought together all my skills as a photographer and hill walker.
FOOTPRINT : A Walk in the Park resulted in a touring exhibition and a tandem arts project involving seven rural Cumbrian schools.
My next big project involves me documenting Cumbrian stone barns and the farmers that use them for Lancashire based Littoral Arts. I am also planning a further month-long wilderness walk in either Pembrokeshire or the Western Isles of Scotland. In the pipeline are treks to Nepal and Jordan and I have just returned from Ladakh in India and a wild trip to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
Fan Mountains, Tajikistan. Photo made by 11 year old villager....using my Nikon gear
I have been extremely fortunate in having followed a profession that started as a childhood hobby. I never take this for granted and still manage to maintain the same excitement and enthusiasm for the path I have chosen. For me nothing can beat the sheer pleasure of taking a photograph that captures the essence of a location; be it a Warwickshire field, a remote beach in New Zealand or a Himalayan plateau.
Enjoy life.
Rob Fraser