Dave Martin only moved to this fine slice of the earth in June but has wasted no time getting out and exploring with his camera, no matter the time of day, or in many cases night!
Dave Martin and his family have been welcomed into the community with the friendly manner you’d expect from this fine community: “We have found the people here to be really friendly. Everyone says hello and many people stop for a chat. I have also been really impressed with how much the people in Faversham appreciate creativity. I have had so many positive comments about my photos on the Faversham Matters Facebook page which has been really nice and even was invited to join the local camera club”.
Rightly so, any photo club would be thankful to have Dave on the books as he’s blessed with the eye for a snap as you can see on the stunning shots that surround this article. CommunityAd had the pleasure of a snappy chat with Faversham’s newest snapper.
What do you find aesthetically so charming about Faversham and its surrounding areas?
The clear night sky, the marshes and the Saxon shore have been the main foci for my photography work as I love sunsets, sunrises and star images. I really like getting reflections in the water and the creek, shoreline and marshes enable me to do that.
What’s your favourite season as a photographer?
That is a tough one as I like different aspects of the seasons. For Milky Way photography the time period between February and November is best and what is visible varies throughout that time. Autumn is good as the sunrise and sunset are not too late to take sunset photos or too early to get sunrises, but I am very partial to snow so am looking forward to photographing the local area in wintry conditions.
When did you first pick up a camera, and what inspired you to do so?
I have only really been taking photographs properly for about 3 years. I am a school teacher and have regularly run band events at school. I would always get a sixth former to take photos of the event for the students to use to promote their bands. One of the students was selling his old DSLR and I bought it from him. I then tried taking photos myself at these events and really enjoyed it. When lockdown happened, I spent a lot of time doing online photography and woodwork courses to improve my skills and just kept learning.
We love the night photography that you’ve shared with us, what’s the process with those shots?
Night photography is one of the trickier types of photography and normally requires you to take multiple images and combine them into one. If you want to take star trail photos you need to take multiple long exposure photos on a tripod and then import the photos into a piece of stacking software. You may also want to edit the image in a program such as Photoshop or Lightroom. For point star shots you need to have shorter long exposure photos and then stack them in software.
What bit of advice would you give to any novices starting out in photography?
If you have a DSLR get off the auto setting and onto manual. Experiment with all the settings. The advantage these days with digital cameras is that you can take as many images as you like and it doesn’t matter if the images don’t work out. Just keep trying different things. The other bit of advice is to watch YouTube videos as there is a lot of good free tuition out there.