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Member Profile - Robin Goodlad - part 1 of 1 2 3

Published 01/12/2015

'I'm a very visual person,' Robin Goodlad tells me when I asked him why he was drawn to photography. 'My first camera was given to me at about five years old, and it's just grown from there. I've always enjoyed taking pictures and I've had lots of encouragement from people over the years, so I stuck at it and eventually progressed to having my own business!'

Robin started his own business 15 years ago now, but this year he's branching out and diversifying into what he believes will be more profitable areas. 'In the past I've focused on more artistic work which there isn't always a great deal of money in. I fell into wedding photography and began to specialise in documentary weddings and I soon saw a synergy between weddings and the landscapes that I shoot. It's all about the interpretation of the light, the landscape and the location.' Robin also now shoots lifestyle portraits to complement his wedding photography: 'For me it's all about using natural light and being out in the landscape. I love to take clients to somewhere that's going to be a fantastic location rather than using a studio to shoot them.'

Some eagle-eyed readers might recognise Robin from somewhere else - he appeared on Masterchef as a contestant a few years ago! 'I've always loved food and people said I was good at cooking, so I gave it a whirl! I really enjoyed it but I learned that I didn't want to sit in a kitchen all day. I'm an outdoors person and I want to be out every day taking pictures.' It was the Aspire Bespoke course though that really showed Robin the possibilities when it came to photographing food: 'It was one of those penny-drop moments where I thought that I could combine both food and photography. It's almost a black art to make food look amazing in photographs. For me it's about putting all of the elements together visually so that you can see what the ingredients are. You can't taste what's in a photograph, so you have to be able to see everything and piece together the flavour in your mind because you know what the individual ingredients taste like.'

But it's landscape photography that has always captured Robin's heart. 'I started out quite traditionally with my landscape photography, but when I began entering competitions, the pictures that did well weren't the images that appealed to me in the beginning. I subconsciously started developing a high-contrast, black and white style and people seemed to really like the images. I've always evolved by responding to what people liked in many ways.' Being outside is often a huge draw for landscape photographers, and Robin is no exception. 'I've always been an outdoor person, and I spend as much time outdoors as I can. I love the natural environment and when I see something amazing, I want to capture that and share it with people - it's my way of communicating. I just love being out there. I could sit for hours waiting for a sunset and it's a great way of spending time to yourself and refocusing. That's what landscapes are for me now; it's my personal time and development. I'm photographing them for myself.'

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1st Published 01/12/2015
last update 09/12/2022 14:58:36

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