Landscape Photography by Dave Massey

Me in the rain on Latrigg fell

I have always had an interest in the creative arts, but my initial passion, was for another art form…. music. Specifically electronic music and music production. This was the path I pursued for many years.

My interest in photography and the Lake District stems from my late father who was a keen amateur photographer. Our family holidays were often spent at Ullswater, his favourite lake. Even 40 years later I can still remember him taking us to the top of a fell at night to “really see the stars” and staying as the sun rose and burned away the mists below. At that time I had no real interest in photography, but looking back I think something seeped it to my subconscious.

I slowly drifted into serious photography via music and graphic design. I composed and produced music for a few smaller record labels, and because of my background in graphic design I often helped with the CD cover design. This led to taking landscape photos for the CD covers, which in turn led to shooting video for projection at concerts and DVD releases.

I realised that I wanted to exchange the music studio for the wide open spaces and around 10 years ago I started taking photography far more seriously, developing my skills and techniques to truly capture the moments that I was witnessing.

I love the Lake District and the more times I visit, the more I find to photograph. Seeing the landscape change through the seasons is inspirational, a place that can look bland in the summer can become magical in the autumn or winter.

The challenge to capture the changing beauty of  nature in the raw is what inspires me to make the effort to “Chase the light”