Professional Photographer April 2005

Andy Davies started out with a 2:1 in geology that led him to spend a short period in the oil industry working as a geophysicist. Andy obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Land Management from Cardiff University and kissed goodbye to a career that wasn't engaging him. From there he met and worked with various successful Cardiff photographers learning the techniques of photography, and with his background it was perhaps inevitable that he then should collaborate in photographing and writing a book on the Brecon Beacons.

From that beginning he has had increasing numbers of commissions from organisations such as the Wales Tourist Board, who require landscape photographs to be used in posters and brochures promoting Wales as a tourist venue. He also has more than 2000 images with the Photolibrary Wales.

Alongside the bread and butter photography that supports his young family he is turning more to abstract work to sell as fine art. He begins with extreme close-ups of plants and animals, and explores the minute subtleties that enormous magnifications can provide.

Using Velvia, scanned at the maximum resolution on his Nikon 4000 scanner, he achieves files that can be printed up to 20x30ins if required, and he has recently invested in an Epson 7600 printer to bring the production of his images under his control.

Barry Webb