Making Mountain Memories

Hi, I’m James, an award winning landscape photographer with a passion for the great outdoors. I live in North-East Wales but have previously lived close to the Peak District. I have scoured and photographed the Peak District from top to bottom, written a book on the area and lead regular workshops there. I also now work a lot in Eryri being a lot closer to it. However, I love visiting all areas of the UK, particularly if there are mountains and I can be regularly found in Scotland.

I first took up photography in 2008 and within months had taken my first national award winning photograph for Trail Magazine and the Keswick Mountain Festival with my image ‘The Last Push’ featuring my friend and rock climber, ascending a bouldering route on Ramshaw Rocks. The image was judged by acclaimed rock climber, Leo Houlding.

I then went on to win the 2010 Peak District Photography Competition in association with the Buxton Festival with my image of a lone walker on Kinder Scout, titled ‘A Kinder Wonderland’.

I have a huge passion for the outdoors, walking and photography. I have extensively visited areas in the UK and broadened my horizons visiting other counties, but home is where the heart is. I feel most at home on a mountain summit witnessing conditions you can only find in these remote places, often in solitude but that doesn’t mean I won’t photograph photos lower down and I particularly enjoy coastal photography despite living in the middle of the country!

I have been fortunate enough to have worked with Visit Peak District as a Destination Photography Partner since 2010 and have also undertaken regular commissions for the JD Sports Group which includes portfolios such as Blacks Outdoors and Ultimate Outdoors. I have also worked on a project with Sony to promote their Xperia mobiles. My work has even taken me to an international level, working on a commission for Monarch Airlines in Cyprus.

I self-published my photography guidebook to the Peak District, titled Peak District Through The Lens. This 400-page guidebook took you from the honeypots to the hidden gems of the Peak District, whether a walker, photographer or sight-seer. It aimed to provide a definitive guide to the Peak District as well as helping to improve the reader’s photography. It was no steady ride to get there, but I managed to secure enough funding from a crowdfunding campaign to go full steam ahead and self-publish. The belief people had in me only inspired me more. The book was published and was a huge success, ranking as the most reviewed Peak District publication on Amazon with over 80, five star reviews and sold out in less than 18 months.

I run regular workshops in the Peak District, Snowdonia and further afield including regular residential Isle of Skye Photography Workshops. I pride myself on having over 100 5-star reviews across Facebook and Google for my workshops. I run traditional easy access workshops through to multi-day hiking and wild camping workshops, catering for all abilities and needs.