Mark Gray

PHOTOGRAPHER #68.

Website: http://www.markgray.com.au/
Contact: http://www.markgray.com.au/contact-us/index.php

What is there not to like about Mark Gray’s photography? One of the leading Australian photographers today, Mark Gray, focuses his art on beautiful landscapes around the world and with the light of his photographs and composition he presents the world through entirely different eyes. He is a completely self-taught photographer, and his art is personification of natural perfection.

His photographs and are made with a panoramic film camera with medium format. This piece of art amongst cameras allows far-fetched detail to be captured, and the outcomes are excellent photographs that can be printed out in large sizes, even over 5 meters wide, and still obtaining its dazzling sharpness and quality.

Very important fact in his art is that he does not use any coloured filters and always focuses on the exquisiteness of natural light. Moreover, during his post production he leaves the photographs as they were captured and does not add any light effects.

What makes his photographs so colorful and amazing?

He does his moment capturing during different times of the day, as the angle of light changes every second. Most of the times him repeatedly visits the same location, just to capture this difference, which can change the landscape completely. However the secret is that he normally does that in hours when we are still sleeping then is when the amazing sun rays make the scene just extraordinary.

He focuses on 6 guidelines he always follows to make his art everlasting:

•    Available light

The quality of the light has to be equivalent to the scene he is capturing. There is expression photographer use and Mark Gray just loves; ‘magic hour’ that describes the perfect light for making fabulous photographs and that is 30 minutes before sun rises and 30 minutes after it sets.

•    Researching every location

To get the best results he always plans different possibilities on each location. This way he gets various options and sets up quickly whenever returning to the same location.

•    Patience

He returns to the same spot many times, just to capture that perfect moment when the light is exactly right for the picture.

•    Tripod

To make this endless photographs he uses a tripod. It is mandatory for stabilizing the camera, especially when focusing on landscapes with natural light effects.

•    Depth of field

For expansive landscape photographs, he pays attention to a maximum depth of field. He aims, so he has everything in focus. That way the viewers’ eyes go through the photograph, all the way to the background.

•    Composition

Where he puts, the camera makes the beauty perfect for each photograph. It is very important to plan the composition and moving the camera; only few inches left or right makes a big difference. When shooting, he considers height of the camera, each angle he can catch, higher and lower than eye-level, which helps with capturing landscape from a different perspective and makes the natural loveliness perfect.