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Speaking with Photographer, Simon Marlow
Tuesday, 17 March 2020 13:40:21 Europe/London
Simon Marlow is an award-winning wildlife and nature photographer who has photographed and exhibited all over the world.
In our latest Azutura artist interview, we caught up with Simon and discussed how he learnt his craft, his favourite places to photograph, his love of animals and much more.
Hi Simon, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Can you start off by telling us a little about yourself?
Thanks for the interest in my wildlife photography. I’m an ex-military veteran who spent 23 years in the Royal Air Force. I now work in IT, where, since leaving the military, I’ve been a website designer, graphic designer and now a software analyst.
I was brought up in the countryside in Devon and always wanted to return back to the countryside at some point. In December 2018, I got my wish and sold my property near Reading in Berkshire and moved into the Shropshire countryside. Being a lover of all things nature and wildlife, I now have my dream home with an acre of gardens and land.
I get an abundance of wildlife in the garden, which has two ponds, so it’s the perfect place for a wildlife and nature Photographer to be.
What’s a typical day like in the life of Simon Marlow?
I'm very lucky to live in rural Shropshire surrounded by open space, big hills and abundant wildlife. My day normally starts with a 45-minute walk with Max, my lurcher, who’s 15 years old but can definitely out walk me.
My work life is split between being a digital software analyst and a wildlife photographer where I can spend many hours observing and photographing animals and birds both locally and on photography trips worldwide. In the past few years, I’ve been on photography trips to Cuba, Sri Lanka, Borneo, Costa Rica and Vietnam.
How and when did you first become interested in photography?
I've always been an advocate for nature and have been into photographing nature subjects since 1992, starting out with traditional film cameras until I went fully digital in 2000.
How did you master the art?
Most of my photography experience has come from shooting in full manual almost all the time. This way, it forces you to learn the relationships between shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings to obtain the best images possible.
What drew you to the subject of nature?
Being brought up in the Devon countryside was where my love of nature began, investigating and studying wildlife from an early age on land and in the rivers.
How do you find the perfect shooting location?
There are three places I’ve visited where I would consider them to be my perfect shooting locations. One was in Borneo, where I was in the jungle with an abundance of exotic wildlife in their natural habitats.
One other was in the cloud forest in Costa Rica, where there were different species of monkey and the amazing hummingbirds up very close.
The other one is in the UK and I visited there a couple of years ago, it's the Farne Islands in Northumberland. Every year between April and July, there are up to 70,000 Atlantic puffins which nest on the islands to nest and have young. Seeing thousands of puffins flying out from the islands and back throughout the day is something very special.
I think that when you choose nature/wildlife/animals/birds/flowers as the main interest to photograph, I don't believe there is a perfect location. Nature is everywhere so wherever you are, open your eyes and investigate what's around you. You'll be surprised at what you can find.
Timing is a huge part of what makes your work special. I take it there’s a lot of patience required?
Patience is a must for wildlife photographers, especially if you want to capture animals and birds with their natural behaviour and characteristics. I try to get natural poses in my images so this involves a lot of watching and waiting.
Do you spend much time editing your images?
Editing images once you have your photos is considered a must nowadays, not necessarily to dramatically change the image, but to ensure little things like dust spots or a stray branch are removed so the images can be presented at their best.
As I’m guessing you’re an animal lover, what’s your favourite?
If I had to pick my favourite animal, it would have to be the emperor tamarin monkey. I was photographing these adorable creatures when one of them spotted its reflection in my camera lens, then proceeded to pull some very funny faces and was sticking its tongue out.
Where’s your favourite place you’ve photographed?
Picking one location as my favourite I would have to say, Costa Rica. It's very easy to get close to a wide variety of nature, including howler monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, hummingbirds, crocodiles and iguanas, to name a few.
Is there anywhere on your photography bucket list?
One location I would love to visit and photograph would be the Galapagos Islands for the sea birds.
What kind of kit do you use?
My current photographic gear consists of a Canon 5D MkIV, a Canon 70D, a Canon 100-400mm IS II lens with Canon 1.4 Extender III, a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens and a Sigma 105mm Macro.
What advice would you give to an aspiring photographer?
Don't be afraid to experiment. Many people try many different subjects of photography before they find the one they like capturing the most.
It also doesn't matter what type of camera you have. It doesn't have to be an expensive digital SLR. I’ve actually won two big photography competitions with images that were taken on my iPhone, much to the astonishment of the judges when this was revealed to them.
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