Lens Culture Submission review

I’ve just received a free Submission Review by a LensCulture photographic expert.

The images are shown above, and this is the review:

Hi Nick, and thanks for taking the time in submitting your work with us!

I am happy to have the opportunity to review your submission and offer some thoughts and suggestions as to how you can take the work to the next level. It is important for a photographer to realise what works in the approach and what doesn't, and this is regardless if one works in a series on in singles.

One of the most important abilities a photographer can possess is to transcend the mundane into a distinct moment that offers something that departs the subject matter.

I enjoyed looking at your work and in regard to the question, it all comes down to the ability and "access" you have at the location. The images in themselves are interesting to look at showing me animal life as it unfolds. You pretty much concentrate on representing what you see and although that is fine there is a photo that I would like to use as the anchor to a different direction that would make the work stronger.

In the seventh image, you are using a much more dramatic light which takes things to another level that becomes both about being representational but also emotional with the latter being an important component that I feel you could incorporate in such work.

Taking a more passive and lyrical approach while using the landscape as a stage and blending the animals in it would be more effective. Think about narrative and even about the theater of nature and of ways that would take the subject matter and make it more intimate.

In all, I would suggest finding a way, if possible, considering the situation, to concentrate on moments that go beyond action moments as 8, 9 and 10.

Nothing, of course, is wrong with that but you want to be a little more elaborate and you are also doing something more interesting in image 3 and image 2 is a good example of using the frame to reflect on the environment and if you bring a stronger use of light, shadow, atmosphere, and mood, things will become a lot more intimate.

It was my pleasure reviewing your work and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

What do you think? If you have a view, please feel free to add your comments below…

If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.

If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.

Nick Dale
I read English at Oxford before beginning a career as a strategy consultant in London. After a spell as Project Manager, I left to set up various businesses, including raising $5m in funding as Development Director for www.military.com in San Francisco, building a £1m property portfolio in Notting Hill and the Alps and financing the first two albums by Eden James, an Australian singer-songwriter who has now won record deals with Sony and EMI and reached number one in Greece with his first single Cherub Feathers. In 1998, I had lunch with a friend of mine who had an apartment in the Alps and ended up renting the place for the whole season. That was probably the only real decision I’ve ever made in my life! After ‘retiring’ at the age of 29, I spent seven years skiing and playing golf in France, Belgium, America and Australia before returning to London to settle down and start a family. That hasn’t happened yet, but I’ve now decided to focus on ‘quality of life’. That means trying to maximise my enjoyment rather than my salary. As I love teaching, I spend a few hours a week as a private tutor in south-west London and on assignment in places as far afield as Hong Kong and Bodrum. In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis, writing, acting, photography, dancing, skiing and coaching golf. I still have all the same problems as everyone else, but at least I never get up in the morning wishing I didn’t have to go to work!
http://www.nickdalephotography.com
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