About the Photographer

Welcome to my website. My name is Justin Kercher and I am an amateur nature photographer based in The New Forest, Hampshire, England.

Photography has been a hobby of mine since around January 2006 and I have been dedicated to it ever since, investing as much time and money as I possibly can in order to capture ‘the perfect Photo’.

I am mainly a nature photographer, always out and about around The New Forest or the Coast of Hampshire and Dorset. During the longer days I am quite frequently leaving the house at 3am and driving around 100 miles to capture the sunrise somewhere, and then driving back again to be at my desk for 9am when I start work.

At 5pm I usually head straight out from work to drive another long distance trip to photograph the sunset somewhere else before returning home and processing my captured shots the same night before starting all over again the next morning.

Nature photography is a personal preference of mine as it is, in my opinion, one of the hardest types of photography there is. Weather, natural light and wildlife are always unpredictable and as a result, the phrase, ‘right place at the right time’, has never been more applicable.

Although technically I am an amateur photographer in the sense that I do not do it for a living, I have been published several times.

Last year I was published in Digital Camera magazine on three separate occasions in their Hotshots section – two of which made the title page for the section. I was truly honoured by these features.

I am presently contacting local magazines to submit voluntary photography work to them in order to build up a published work portfolio in case I ever decide on a career change so hopefully you may see some of my work in your favourite magazines some day.

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Photography Inspiration and Influences

My main two influences when it comes to photography is the work of World recognised wildlife photographer Andy Rouse, and the equally talented Guy Edwards.

Andy Rouses wildlife work totally blows me away and I truly envy his abilities to not only capture amazing images of wildlife that very few of us will ever get to see in the wild, (polar bears for example), but also his passion for the natural world. Andy takes ecology issues such as global warming very seriously. Although I know very little about such issues, they are a very real threat to our world and an ever growing problem that will one day destroy our planet for future generations.

Until I saw Andy Rouse give a talk in Dorchester last year, I never cared about such issues. Through his work and this single lecture, he has truly opened my eyes to the reality of such depressing events. His work has also inspired me to one day visit Antarctica and it is now a long term dream of mine. It would be great if I was able to afford a trip over there with him next year but that really is a dream. He is a really funny and charismatic guy and I look forward to attending another of his talks in the very near future.

The only thing I can imagine being greater would be able to turn out the quality of work Andy Rouse does EVERY TIME he goes out shooting, which is pretty much every day in countries all over the world.

I wish I had the time and money to do that!

Guy Edwards I know very little about except for one thing. His work is incredible. His landscape work inspires me to get out more often and vary the type of shots I take. Before I discovered Guys work, I was mostly shooting coastal scenes at sunrise and sunset with wide angle lenses. Since meeting him at the same talk I met Andy Rouse at, I have been venturing further a field and heading inland to locate hills and interesting landscapes to shoot through telephoto lenses. It’s a totally different ball game and I hope one day to achieve the same standards as Guy Edward’s does.

Like Andy Rouse, Guy Edwards has also been featured in the shell ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ awards.

Maybe one day I will achieve that title to. But that’s a long way off.

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Closing

I hope you enjoy my photography work and find the website useful and easy to use. I welcome any comments on my work, so please make use of the rating systems that is in place for my photos, and please feel free to leave any comments on my work using the comments feature.

If you would like to purchase any of my prints, please contact me via the contact link. I will eventually sale my prints directly from this site but I need to investigate the matter further in terms of secondary job tax etc.

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