³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Tom Mackie has been a photographer all his working life. He travels the world to capture Mother Nature at her finest, yet is proud to call Norfolk home.

"Norfolk has a wide variety of landscapes, even though people think that it's very flat. There is so much diversity in this, the largest county in the country," he said.

"The north Norfolk coast is fantastic. Each time the tide comes in, it's like cleaning an artist's palette. It's washing away what the day had before and is creating something completely different," he added.

Tom moved from Los Angeles to the UK in 1985, to pursue a full-time career as a landscape photographer. He's now widely respected as one of the world's finest in the genre.

He admits, that living in Norfolk, we're somewhat spoilt for choice when it comes to photographing the landscape. So where do you start?

Tom Mackie at work in the desert

"Definitely the Broads. There are key places that I go back to as they are the iconic shots of the Broads. The reed beds, the boats, the water and the windmills. But also the coastline as there is such a diversity," he said.

"If you start at Hunstanton you have the different colours in the cliffs with the really strange rock formations at low tide. Then continuing around the coast, it changes.

"At Happisburgh you have the sea defences that have been battered away, then down towards Horsey Gap it levels out and you have this nice low sandy slope. There's more than meets the eye to Norfolk than most people think," he added.

The influx of digital cameras to the market has changed, in part, the way Tom works. While sticking with traditional film and plate techniques, he also uses a digital SLR.

Counting your pixels

But if you're thinking of buying one, the huge variety on the market can make it a difficult choice.

"There are so many different cameras on the market now to choose from. A lot of people think they've got to go out and get the most mega-pixels possible. That's a complete fallacy. You don't need to, you're just wasting money," he said.

"What people should determine first is what are they going to be doing with the pictures?

"Are they going to be printing them out, are they going to be making pictures larger than 10"x8"? That should determine the size of mega-pixels.

Burnham Overy (detail)

"Instead of spending all your money on the most mega-pixels you can, invest it in the lenses. It's the quality of the lenses that are paramount to the image quality.

"I would say, if somebody wanted to start seriously, a good starting point is to read the reviews in the magazines.

"They know more about the cameras than anybody else, so you'll get a better idea of the features, pros and cons of each camera that way," he added.

Patience is a virtue

However, picking up a swanky digital camera doesn't instantly mean you'll be producing pro-quality work. The digital format comes with its own pit falls.

"One of the downfalls of digital is that it does create a sloppy, lazy photographer," said Tom.

"I find myself saying 'I don't need the tripod for this' and I hand hold it. Then I get the image back and some of it's not in focus. The auto-focus captured part of the scene I didn't want in sharp focus.

"It is a steep learning curve. You spend maybe a quarter of your time taking pictures and three-quarters in the studio on the computer, tweaking the files, sharpening etc.

"There are all these problems, and you start to take snaps.

"But if you slow it down, put the camera on a tripod. Take your hands away from the camera and look at what you're looking at through the view finder and concentrate on each element in each corner, then you're on the road to creating a nicer image.

Happisburgh lighthouse (detail)

"Light is the key element to any photograph, then it's the composition.

"If you don't have good composition but great light, it's not going to hold together and vice-versa.

"But foremost it’s the way the light plays across the landscape and then spotting that composition, that's the other key.

"To be able to recognise patterns and the way that angles work within the frame to make a pleasing composition," he added.

Tom Mackie has published two books: a best-selling Photos With Impact and his latest book Tom Mackie's Landscape Photography Secrets.

He has written numerous articles for photography magazines in the UK and abroad, and is a regular contributor to Photography Monthly.