I've had a lot of high quality artistic influence around me from a very young age - my father was an excellent water colour painter and I had an uncle who owned his own Photographic business too.  There is no doubt that much of this influence helped me develop an eye for light, composition and perspective in my early years which certainly helped me cultivate the core components of my photography.

There are some who swear that looking at too many images from other photographers will eventually influence your own brand of vision and I think undoubtedly an element of that holds true.  Having said that drawing on the inspiration of others and sharing your own work is largely what I think art and photography should be all about so I'm not ashamed to headline the work of the truly talented photographers who have provided me with a big slice of inspiration and indirectly pushed me to work on my technique, quality, and develop the vision I have today.  

Now at this point I could easily go on and talk about the great work of Michael Levin, Michael Kenna or the landscape masters of Joe Cornish and Charlie Waite who hold almost legendary status in photography circles, but in truth these are not the people who have really driven me.  Instead through the world of photography centric networking sites like Flickr I picked up a handful of truly great contacts who have all in their own ways gone on to achieve some incredible success and it is these individuals who I want to focus on. These are the people who prove that with enough patience, with enough drive and determination, with the right eye for composition and with exceptional standards, that good things come to those that wait.   

Each of the photographers listed below show that we can all have somewhat different perceptions of the world but at the same time achieve a benchmark and level of quality which drives the bar higher for everyone else.  If I can somehow inspire others in the ways that these individuals have done so for me then my work is done.  I should say at this point that this list could easily be ten or more because in truth there continue to be many others who contribute to providing the inspiration to be better and I hope they're not offended because their names are not directly below; you know who you are...  

Chris Friel - www.chrisfriel.co.uk

There is no doubt to me that Chris is one of the finest contemporary landscape photographers in the UK today.  His work is original, unique on so many levels, almost completely absorbing and his slightly quirky engaging personality just fits his images so well.  Chris's often dark visions of land and sea emit real movement and emotion but the detail of his images are so often of little importance to me - its all about the whole composition and the way he commands light across the entire frame.  But it doesn't stop there.  His mono portrait photography is also second to none, so intimidating in fact that I almost dare not attempt to photograph people because they would just come up so hopelessly short next to his images.  Some examples of his work are below but I would urge you to visit his website for a journey of true photographic essence.

Antony Spencer - www.antonyspencer.com

Another photographer for me where the quality of his images almost defy belief and totally stand out from the crowd.  It's no accident that Tony was crowned Landscape Photographer Of The Year for 2010 and I'm sure this will help spring-board him on to ever greater accolades. In truth I already considered Tony to be a landscape master before his prestigious award because his endeavour and passion for capturing the landscape at its critical moment mixed with his vision for composition, combines to produce truly stunning imagery.  His adventures across Norway and wonderful captures of the Northern Lights have just proved that there is much to come from Tony and I fully look forward to watching his career as a professional develop into a name that's mentioned interchangeably with those of the likes of Joe Cornish and Charlie Waite.

Joel Tjintjelaar - www.bwvision.com

It's easy for me to say that I consider Joel to be a master of minimalistic form and vision, and he has certainly set a standard that most can only ever dream of achieving.  His philosophy of imagery melts through his final product - his attention to light, detail and mathematical composition is often staggering.  Like Tony, his quality has rightly achieved the attention it deserves and in 2011 Joel won a highly revered 1st Place at the International Photography Awards for his stunning series of architectural images titled Frozen Music.  If you want to create images of architectural abstract and form there is possibly no better place to start than studying the work of Joel. The wonderful examples below are just the beginning of an exploration into the soul of black and white photography you can discover through Joel's collection...