`The Lakes Gallery’ contains a collection of Lakeland images by award winning photographer Matt Nuttall (ARPS). Eleven of the photographs have been shortlisted in ‘UK Landscape Photographer of the Year’.
This photograph very nearly cost Matt his life. Soon after it was made he rather foolishly got lost on a midwinter’s night on top of Scafell, England’s highest mountain. It’s a long story but he ended up hanging by his fingertips from the ice covered edge of a waterfall before plunging down into the freezing water below. Trapped in a steep ravine he was forced to climb down countless waterfalls in the dark, often slipping down into the icy pools below. Hypothermic and wondering if his next step would be his last, it was the most frightening and loneliest night of his life. Six hours (and many tears!) later he emerged from the ravine never more grateful to be alive.
Many of the photographs required ten, twenty or more visits to the same location. They are the result of countless pre-dawn hikes and many thousands of hours spent scouting for viewpoints and waiting for the optimum light. Some images involved standing waist deep in a tarn or on a pier next to a lake to capture the beautiful blue light before sunrise.
Others entailed climbing several thousand feet in the dark to capture the dawn light bathing the fell tops immediately afterwards.
As well as photographing some of the better known views, Matt also likes creating more personal images. He especially enjoys venturing out when mist or floods have briefly transformed the landscape into something unique and often mysterious.
Matt’s love of the Lake District began when he was a small boy climbing Coniston Old Man with his dad. His love of photography began in the school darkroom. Following formal training, he began a long career in photography and his work has been widely published.
Matt is happiest when outdoors in the Lakes capturing its many moods - the good and the bad! He relishes that elusive but magical moment when composition, light and conditions all come together.