Light and Water: The Photography of Dave Wilson LRPS

The sculpture above is dynamic in itself. (It is a tribute to the soccer player Tom Finney in front of the Preston North End football ground in Deepdale Road in Preston.) Add the right light, water and the camera of Dave Wilson and it becomes spectacular.

The use of light and knowing how to use it, is the difference between a pleasing photograph and a superb photograph. Add the reflective qualities of water, with its ability to not only reflect the image but the light itself, and the skill of the photographer to interpret it and it becomes a work of art.

I first became aware of the work of Dave Wilson in one of my local pubs where some of his pictures were hanging on the walls. His works are also on display in public buildings in and around the city of Preston.

He is an avid football fan of local team Preston North End and has some great photos of his beloved team and the fans, taken as a registered Football League photographer,

I contacted him and asked him if he would meet me, with a view to writing this article, so I could find out more about him.

He agreed and we met in the pub where some of his pictures are hanging.

Dave was born in Preston but was raised and educated in South Africa, (a time he spoke of as when “the rod ruled” and not a time of good memories) before returning to this country.

Trained as an electrician, his love for photography took the upper hand and he became a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society. Not a simple thing.

This involved presenting ten photographs measuring 50cmx40cm (20”x16”) before a selection committee and achieving 100% approval. (The pictures presented can be seen on his website.)

When I told him that I would need some of his photographs for the article, I was more than pleased when he said “help yourself”, without any restrictions or conditions.

In fact it would be truer to say that I was like “a kid in a candy shop.”

I rejected his wedding and portrait photography, superb though they were, only because I would have had to get the permission of the people in the photos before being able to use them.

There were some very strong images amongst his sports photographs that I initially selected.

The wildlife pictures also kept me going backwards and forwards picking and choosing, particularly a tender one of a sparrow feeding her chick. There were some beautiful close-ups.

I was tempted by his local views, particularly one of the classic lines of the Harris Library taken at night.

In the end I realised that the photographs from any category that I was looking through and kept going back to, were images that showed his ability to use light and water to give a picture that “X-factor.”

Whether it was a picture of local wildlife, a Lakeland scene or a port at night, his skill to time the light and its position is a gift.

It is also an education.

Many thanks to Dave Wilson for the use of these images.

More pictures and information are available at his website http://skellum-photo.com/#

Other articles by C. Jordan include the Amazing Art series:

The Amazing Hand Art of Guido Daniele

Amazing Art: The Dynamic Driftwood Horse Sculptures of Heather Jansch

The Amazing Epic 3D Street Art of Edgar Mueller