Well, here we are , the beginning of a New year , a time to look back and look forward. Normally a year whizzes by for me , but 2015 lasted a lifetime and was certainly an intense time and not one I’d want to revisit again any time soon. But apart from personal stuff going on , surprisingly it was a rewarding time for my photographic work with both critical acclaim and some high profile commissions, so some good stuff in there as well as the tough stuff.
Here goes then with my first image
Ines Papert on the Hurting on the Fiaccail Buttress, you can read the blog about this here http://www.nadirkhan.co.uk/blog/the-hurting/ The shoot was tough but I was really happy with the response the images had in the climbing community . I find it hard to be objective about my own images and often am overly critical and self deprecating but one of the images was front cover of Climb magazine in Dec so pleased with that .
Following that I was then working for Glenmore Lodge shooting their winter climbing brochure . I love working for the Lodge, such a great bunch of guys and girls and they look after me very well with assistants and guides which make it so much of a pleasure to work for them. The Cairngorms are a windy place as anyone thats been there will tell you and its a challenge to the kit and equipment to keep everything working smoothly.
A last minute call then came in from a client wanting biking and walking shots around the Cumbria area , so it was straight from a shoot on the Ben for Rab down to Cumbria. Thanks to Grizedale Bikes for local knowledge and my assistant for the shoot was Tom Hughes of Beyond Limits media , check out his work here , https://vimeo.com/beyondlimitsmedia super good team and we got a lot done in the time we had .
The same client also wanted a shoot in Snowdonia so waiting for a break in the spring weather I organised a team of climbers and bikers to shoot some of the classic biking around the mountains as well as getting some early shots on the hills
We were super lucky with the weather, cloud inversions , amazing light and got all the images we wanted to get in 4 days so really pleased
For the past 3 years I’ve been shooting the wild country product brochure and this year we headed up to Northumberland to explore the crags in that area. This image is maybe my favourite from the shoot with Lukas Binder making a dyno move at Kyloe in the Woods and lighting supplied by a Elinchrom Quadra from http://www.theflashcentre.com Its one of my favourite bits of kit, I love the hyper sync capabilities of the Pocket wizard triggers that allows me to use the flash at speeds up 1/1200 of a sec with my 5Diii
I was then driving straight up to Skye to do a shoot for Glenmore Lodge to cover their scrambling course based on Skye. Skye is my favourite place in the world to shoot, for that wild, remote and dramatic landscape there’s no where better . The light changes so quickly , its nearly always dramatic and amazing and if you can be flexible and move around the island to get the best weather , then you will be rewarded. This image was the front cover of the North Face/Ellis Brigham Mountain pro magazine in the summer.
And now for something completely different ;
June saw me back in Skye , this time starting a project called ‘Naked Mountain’, a series of art nude images shot in the wild and remote areas of the UK. What I was trying to show in the images was a sense of beauty, grace, and a strong feminine power that celebrated the nurturing strength of women. Interestingly , every woman that saw the images loved them , even my mum, but it had a mixed response from men with some surprising comments like, thats not art, exploitative etc. Again, using the Quadra gave me control and freedom to shape the light how i wanted it. The image of model Ayla Rose http://www.aylarosemodel.com with the red cloth was shot on the Quirang as the Trotternish Ridge race was taking place and got some appreciative whoops from the runners, same again this year then !
It was then down South working for Hampshire Council and South Downs Way Trust shooting images to promote biking in the area. This was shot over a series of weekends as the weather in the summer was a challenge to get more than 2 consecutive days of dry weather.
The thing I love about the world of photography is how diverse the work can be and the challenge is thinking creatively to use your skills and artistic vision to make something special out of what you have . In the summer I was shooting for Clacton Pier, whose address is No 1 , The North Sea, hows that for an address ! I seem to remember I had to tell the male model to be less camp as he walked along the pier, not something I normally have to say when working with climbers and bikers !
It was then back down to the South Downs to wrap up the shoot for the Hampshire client and we had some lovely light on the Devils Dyke.
I then had one more shoot planned for the Naked Mountain series, this image is maybe my favourite from the shoot, the model went beyond what most models would put up with , windchill of below freezing, rain , driving wind and getting wet clothes back on at the top of Malham Cove were all beyond the call of duty but we got workable images in what would otherwise have been a complete washout of a weekend. This was a few days before Malham Cove turned into Malham Waterfall !
The end of the year then saw me get second place in landscape photographer of the Year with this image taken at the end of 2014
as well has have articles in Outdoor Photography magazine and Scottish Field, an image in the Womens Climbing calendar and front cover of Climb magazine. So it should feel like a strong place to start 2016. I’m sure it does but I’m sitting with more questions than answers at the moment looking forward so just looking to find new inspiration moving forward . Have a feeling that I’ll be doing more filming this year, my film work took a bit of a back seat in 2015 , better get out a buy a drone then !! ; )
Thanks for taking the time to read and follow my work, if you’re interested I’m speaking at the Outdoor show in London on the 12, 13 of Feb , check out the timetable to see who else is on http://telegraphoutdoorshow.co.uk if you’re there , please come and say hi. Hope you all have an inspiring and peaceful year in2016 with your families, with your loved ones and in your work
Best wishes , Nadir