Photographer in Focus: Paul McFarland (Picturskew Photography)

Each month, we showcase a Northern Ireland-based landscape photographer and go behind the scenes to find out what makes their photography click. So, as we kick off 2019, let’s hear from Paul McFarland of Picturskew Photography.

Paul, tell me a bit about yourself…

I turned the big 50 this year!! I live in Dromore, Co Down, and from my teens I had a passion for photography. I had an old Pentax film camera and my first digital camera was a Kodak DC 290 1.3mp!! I always had an instamatic camera about me as a teenager. I grew up in Lisburn.

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How did you get into photography?

I don’t honestly know. No-one I knew was into photography. I just love taking and looking at old photographs

Is it your full-time gig?

No, I’m a part-time pro. I actually drive an ambulance for a living.

And what do you most like to shoot?

I enjoy my landscape work and low light/night photography, usually of cityscapes, but I do enjoy a good wedding.

Would you say you have any influences?

Friends mostly. I have seen a lot of professional photographers work but Don McCullin would stand out for me.

What was your first camera, and what do you use now?

A Kodak Instamatic, and I had a Kodak 230 Instamatic too. Now I have a Canon 5d Mark IV.

And what software would you recommend for editing?

I use Photoshop – it’s fairly industry standard now.

What are you working on at the minute?

Just finished editing a wedding and a baby shoot, along with Humphrey the St Bernard.

Any future projects planned?

Mainly weddings for 2019.

What do you enjoy most about photographing in the mountains?

Everywhere you look there is a photograph. That’s the easy bit though, the hard bit is shooting a different perspective, something that you don’t always see. Different angle/different direction break from the ‘normal’ shot.

Finally, give us your “golden rule” for photographing the great outdoors.

Be different/be yourself. Look at other photographers’ work and ask yourself ‘How can I do that differently?’.

Shoot wide, crop tall. Cant crop wide if you shoot tall – Scott Kelby.

You can follow Paul and Picturskew Photography on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.