Geraint Davies, The Backstory.

That said, Geraint’s favourite photographic genre is architecture, especially buildings on hallowed ground.

"If someone said to me here’s a minimum wage and off you go around Europe, all expenses paid, photographing cathedrals and churches, you wouldn’t see me for dust. I was a stonemason for a few years and so I have this love of churches and cathedrals. That’s my first love."

And this passion is evident in the series of religious interiors that are on his site. His use of light captures the divinity and the intimate nature of these buildings. However, his unique view of gothic church architecture juxtaposed with the modern reality of steel and glass shows contradicting ideologies in the designs of past and present.

He also has a love of portraiture, which has an untainted honesty about them. You get the feeling that you are looking at the person in their most candid form, without posturing or masks. There is a subtle hint of the fun and play at work here also, so the sitter doesn’t appear to be forged by the camera. Instead the camera brings their personality to life. Surprisingly, Geraint has a very modest view of his portraiture.

"For years I didn’t think I really understood what portraiture was, but I think I have produced some really good ones recently. I tend to be inspired more by paintings rather than photographs.

Geraint’s portfolio is fairly broad, due to the competitive nature of the business in the current economic climate, however his style is very unique. Yet his advice to photographers is to spend as much time as possible on marketing.

Top Tip

It’s really really tough out there at the moment. The market is over saturated with photographers and I think if you want to break into [photography] you have to think of it as a business just like any other. I think there are an awful lot of photographers who are doing fantastically well who aren’t particularly great and the reason they are doing so well is because of things like social networking, marketing and also they have joined as many business networks as possible... If you aren’t established at the moment you have to get out there."

Having learned photography fairly late and with a very negative opinion of themedium, Geraint took up studying again, this time at the London College of Communication. To aid his studies he bought himself a Sinar F1; a large format, plate camera that is very different from the average DSLR. He found that by ‘making a lot of expensive mistakes with a totally manual camera’ his skills were more quickly tuned to the varying shooting conditions he found himself in. He now uses Canon 5D Mark II, with his ‘work horse’ 24-70mm lens. He also uses a 17-40mm wide angle and his 'cherished' 70-200mm f2.8 lens.

Geraint is hoping to work on individual projects soon. He wishes to become more creative with his photography, so he has complete artistic control. Don’t forget to keep an eye on his website and blog for the latest on his projects.

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