My Story
With a passion for wildlife, nature, landscapes and places, above and below water, I bought my first SLR camera in 1997 for £99 and have been taking photos ever since. Upgrades through the Canon range, initially film and then digital, have taken me to my current combination of lenses (16mm to 900mm) on 5D mark 4 and 7D mark 2 bodies, all of which are pro-level and weather-sealed - much needed in the UK…! Next stop will soon be mirrorless…
Marrying my Scottish bride, Lorraine, in 2001 fuelled our passion for travel in search of natural history around the globe. The same year, we moved from north of the border to Nottingham to work at the university, first living in a converted barn in rural Leicestershire and then to suburbia in 2008 a stone’s throw from Wollaton Hall & Deer Park. Photography is a hobby and a perfect antidote to being Director of the Biodiscovery Institute, which is the largest research facility at the University of Nottingham…
Wollaton Hall in the autumn mist at sunrise
My own photographic journey has evolved in stages. Travel to beautiful places inspired a wish to capture Earth’s bounty, but it was joining a series of professional-led workshops that really lifted the quality of my images - every day is a learning day..!
The first few workshops were with Paul Goldstein to East Africa to focus on big cats and then Svalbard for polar bears. Several workshops across Scotland with the great landscape photographer, Colin Prior, fine-tuned the importance of composition to make images appear 3D in a 2D medium. More recently, workshops with Guy Edwardes have brought it all together, with his stunning range of skills to capture Nature in all her glory.
Two other events have contributed to this journey. Pickle, our Border Terrier dog, joining the family. Lorraine and I had talked about getting a dog for a while. It wasn’t until I had a work trip to the USA that she snuck out and got him - in fairness, a very pleasant surprise on my return home…! We love Pickle to bits and going out with him every day, no matter the weather, has done wonders for my photography portfolio.
Ironically, the other event was the COVID-19 pandemic. The series of lockdowns meant staying local was the only option and, with Wollaton Hall & Deer Park being on my doorstep, I have spent thousands of hours there in recent times. For this reason, one of the five Gallery pages is dedicated to the Park.
I hope you enjoy viewing my images. Feedback is always welcome.
Many thanks
Chris (also chrisdenning42 on Instagram, Facebook and X [Twitter], and now Threads too)
View over St. Leonard’s Church spire, Wollaton and Wollaton Hall taken from Catstone Hill, near Strelley