Welcome Tim Pile

Award winning photographer Tim Pile talks about his work:

As you can probably guess from the headline I chose for this feature I try not to take things too seriously, and hopefully this is reflected in some of my images. I am an amateur photographer from Birmingham, England. I use the term amateur not just because I make no income from photography, but also because the true definition of amateur is someone who does something "for the love of it", and that's certainly the primary driver behind my photography. I just love working with models and between us creating ideas for images, whether this be in a studio with my ever-expanding bag of props, or at one of the many locations I seem to spend large amounts of time hunting down and researching on the Internet.

When finding locations I am the ultimate opportunist. 

I will contact landscape photographers on forums I frequent about where their images were taken, and they in turn have supplied details of lots of amazing places to shoot at. If friends have properties that I think would look good I will approach them about shooting there.

I also collaborate with many other photographers, as a second photographer is useful as a lookout on location shoots, and I also find that some of our creativity rubs off on each other leading to both of us producing better images.

Location work gives both the model and the photographer so many opportunities for creativity. For the photographer it's all about finding interesting compositions and viewpoints, while for models I like to think of locations as a playground where they can be themselves and express their personality. Locations allow poses that are just not possible in a studio, or they can make very simple and potentially uninteresting poses produce really strong images because of other elements in the image.

I have had a very technical career, and until recently had no real interest in anything artistic. I started shooting models just under 4 years ago, jointly with two female photographers primarily to keep down costs, but also so that we could learn off each other. This worked very well, and I like to think that some of their feminine touch has rubbed off on me, and influenced my photographic style. Even now most of the photographers I collaborate with are female.

What are my images about? Well I honestly don't really know as my style is still developing rapidly, but as far as I can see my images appear to be strongly influenced by shapes, whether this be the shape of the landscape or surroundings, or the pose of the model, and this probably comes from my mathematical background. Most of my images have very little post-processing applied to them, this is not because I am a purist, but because I still have to unlock the door in my mind that leads to the creative imagery that I see in so many of the photographers that inspire me.

I try to capture both the beauty and the personality of the models I am working with in my images, and always involve models in the idea creation as much as possible, as two brains are always better than one.  

I tend to work with a small number of models repeatedly, as I have good working relationships with them, and because having worked together before we both see it is a challenge to produce something different and better than that we have produced before.

My images been successful with numerous photographic awards and distinctions, but I prefer my images to do the talking. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as the models and I have enjoyed producing them, and a big thank you to all the models who have made producing these images such an enjoyable experience.

Thank you Tim for your contribution!