A proud Devonian through and through, self taught photographer Russell Pike feels blessed to have grown up surrounded by an inspiring, rugged, beautiful landscape. With a lifetime of surfing the coasts and walking the moor, he now perceives the landscape with fresh eyes as a photographer. Having spent time on the other side of the world in diverse countries, he truly believes that Great Britain is a landscape photographer’s paradise. Currently living in Newton St Cyers he couldn’t be in a better position to document the South West.

Although having five formats within Russell’s portfolio, these are all made with the same Digital SLR, favouring to switch between classic dimensions in some circumstances when needed.

“The decision to switch formats is not an after thought, my minds eye always see the composition suiting a particular ratio before the shutter is triped. Balancing photographs is about including and leaving out. The Standard 6x4 doesn’t always work for my ideas and vision.”

Most of Russell’s photographs are taken around dawn and dusk when the light goes through incredible changes offering endless variables of illumination, from intense colourful sunsets to restrained misty dawns. Liking everything to be as pure as the moment, his work is all about capturing the natural beauty what ever the subject, something computer software simply can’t produce.

Landscape and Heritage Winner 2010 South West Coast Path Competition 
Overall Winner 2010 South West Coast Path Competition
Commended - Landscape Photographer of The Year 2013 organized by Take a view
Commended - Landscape Photographer of The Year 2014 organized by Take a view

Canon EOS 5D Mrk II Digital SLR Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM  Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 fisheye Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

Assorted Lee filters Manfrotto 055CX3 Tripod  Manfrotto 460MG head  Lowepro Pro Trekker AW II Samsung N145 Netbook A good alarm clock