About

Hi, I’m Stuart Ainley, from Derbyshire with a few words about me.   When I was 21, my mother gave me some money to buy a watch.  I went into town and bought a camera instead!.

It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  At first I used to take holiday photos but, as I progressed, the joke was that there were never any people in the pictures — just views.

I’ve found I grew into photography. Maybe, as a bloke, it could be described as discovering my creative side, which I didn’t know I had.

Since my Scouting days, I’ve always enjoyed walking and being out in the countryside.  I love flora and fauna and wonderful landscapes, and, being fortunate to reside in Derbyshire, I really don’t have to go far to find them.

Only the other day, I photographed some fabulous fields of oil seed rape at Morley Hayes, a couple of minutes drive away from where I live.

These days, I am never without a camera. I always carry one just in case I see something that will make that special shot.   Some days I will wake up on a nice sunny day and drive up into Derbyshire, perhaps Monsal Head, or the White Peak, off the ‘A’ roads, specifically to take pictures.

Often I go alone, sometimes my wife, comes with me.  Occasionally, I go at the crack of dawn to capture a certain shot, sometimes at dusk.

I use a Canon 5D Mark 1 and Mark 2.  Over the years I have improved my pictures with tips gleaned from photography magazines, from talking to professionals and from my own trials and errors.  I am indeed still  learning.  A couple of years ago, I did a four-day residential photography course — and came away a wiser man.  Mostly it was all about understanding your camera and about composition and composure.

One day we were dropped off at 5.30am in a meadow and told we would be picked up again at 8.45am. We had three hours of photographing buttercups before breakfast.  It certainly fuelled your creativity.

My portfolio ranges from amazing close-ups of minute wildlife like ladybirds, to artistic views of power stations against stunning backdrops, and iconic images like the London Eye, photographed at 10 o’clock at night when it presented a much more dramatic result than a daytime shot.

Similarly I took some pictures inside Charing Cross Station at night. Because of health and safety issues, I wasn’t allowed to use a tripod or flash but, in fact, still got some really great images.

So, have a browse through my album, and please let me know what you would like to own for yourself, from these images, or I can take a commission if there is something specific or interpret your ideas – it would be a pleasure.