365ers - An Interview with Peter Van Allen

We've made it to the 3rd entry in our 365ers series, a collection of interviews from some of the great photographers at 365 Project. This week we have the amazing Peter Van Allen, every day his work blows my mind, a constant stream of stunning and creative images. Something we can all aspire to.

The Interview

Hi Peter, could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi 365, my name is Peter Van Allen, I am 54, married to Sarah and have a young daughter, Sophie, we are all owned and manipulated by the two cats who we share a house with, Billy and Grace.
My home is the 'Isle' of Portland on the 'Jurassic' south coast of Dorset, soon to be host of the sailing events for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
For the last 20 years I have been working as a graphic designer for the local government authority in the nearby seaside resort of Weymouth. Recent reductions to local government funding in the past few years have led to me being asked to provide images for our publications, which has enabled me to progress my photography, including the completion of an Open University digital photography course.
Among the highlights of the recent years were photographing various events and visiting celebrities, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and TV presenter Julia Bradbury.

What or whom got you started with the 365 Project?
A couple of years ago I attempted a 365 project on Flickr, without much success, failing through lack of inspiration and support, that's why the 365 project works so well, it's an intimate community with lots of ideas and some really supportive and inspirational members - it was exactly the kind of community that I needed, and have no doubt that with the support of other 365 members I will complete my project.

What type of camera do you shoot with? Would you recommend it?
I wonder how many other members wanting to improve their photography have faced the same dilemma as I did upgrading to a full DSLR - Nikon or Canon?
After many weeks of thinking about it and reading countless reviews I decided on the Nikon, purely through visiting a local camera dealer and looking at both options, I discovered that it was slightly larger and a better fit in my big hands. My first Nikon was the D80, that was three years ago, I am currently using a D90.
Can't see a lot of difference between the Canon or Nikon mid-range DSLR cameras, I would recommend either brand, in my honest opinion what really makes the difference is the lenses. Always buy the best lenses you can afford, these are the things that can really improve your images.

What bit of kit would you most like to play with?
I would like to experiment with a very high density neutral filter like the ND1000 to see what results I could achieve with photographing moving water.

You have some really creative ideas, I especially like you "Round 9 photo" (above) Where do you find inspiration for your project?
Whenever possible I try to approach the task laterally, this can help with originality by coming at a task from a different direction. For 'Round 9' I was looking for patterns, and arranging shapes and colours but it was necessary that the objects were all relevant to that particular day.

Is there a particular style of photography you most enjoy?
Love all styles of photography, especially the styles I don't have much confidence with, ie portrait or people photography.

Is there anybody or anything you would love to photograph?
Not really, I would just like to be able to do everything just that little bit better, but that means spending more time on photography which is just not possible at the moment.

Could you share a few of your own favourite pictures?
It will come as no surprise that the four images I have selected are all from my favourite place, Chesil Beach, at Portland...

You spend a lot of time by the sea, could you describe your perfect day for us?
This question has reminded me of the 7th July 2007 when I spent the whole day taking photographs for a Flickr.com project '24 hours of Flickr' where members were invited to submit their photographs for a publicity book. My morning started in nearby Weymouth where I took pictures of the gardens, beach and harbour, in the afternoon I travelled to Portland Bill and finally ended the day with a magnificent sunset on the Chesil Beach. It doesn't get any better than this, and to
top it all one of my pictures was chosen for the book!

Which 365ers should we follow?
There are literally dozens of photographers on the 365 Project that I admire and respect for their photography and their freindship, and to pick out just a few has been very difficult, however I have made a shortlist of 4 photographers that many of your readers may already be familiar with, they are:

Colorfade (Andrea) - Lovely light, ethereal images, the sort of images that I can only aspire to, just wonderful, in particular images 90/365 'So long sweet summer...' and 122/375 'Goodbye weekend...'
Blightygal (Freida) - Freida has such a wealth of original ideas, her pictures are all so different, uncluttered and so well executed. I look forward to seeing her latest image every day.
Lauren211 (Lauren Dahlhauser) - Lauren has the world at her feet, so young and so talented. Don't you dare miss this girls photo stream, simply remarkable!
Tiggymooshoo (Tiffany Tregenza) - Superb images from Tiff, I particularly like the black and white images of children, so difficult (for me) to nail, Tiffany does it again and again, check out images 126/365 and 146/365.

and these are just a few of my personal favourites:

Reba22 - 60/365 Red Bench Monday Just about my favourite image on 365 Project it has everything, colour, composition, texture, patterns, and the human element, in my personal opinion a perfect image.
faeriebritches (Heather Benton) 38/365 Cat Eyes
Spooky but incredibly arresting, this cat has an almost alien look about it, so well captured by Heather. Love the colours and symmetry and the cotrast between the left and right side of the face of this amazing cat.
RudyG - 96/365 No. 5 A wonderfully graphic image with a great arrangement if squares and circles, the colours are amazing, respect to Rudy for his theme of cocktails
Jesse Wallace - 21/365 Thin Lizzy A superb study of an amazing reptile, pin sharp focussing, beautiful colour green against a white background, very graphic shot, rings my bells.

In 5 years time what will you be doing?
In five years time I would love to be retired and spending more time taking photographs, but it ain't gonna happen, what I can hope for is to remain healthy and to continue to learn and improve.

With luck I will have become more established as a local photographer, I will continue to sell my prints and cards at local craft fayres and in local shops and maintain my website www.petervanallen.com.

If you were to give us 1 tip for a successful project, what would it be?
Take lots of photos, take them every day, make the most of what's around you, always take a second look at things, you might have missed something, and, have I already mentioned this, keep taking those photos!

Thanks Peter

Peter has kindly offered to answer any questions any 365 members have, just reply in the comments below and he will try and get back to you.

This interview has been part of our '365ers' series, check out more of these interviews below...
Week 1: Carl Rice
Week 2: Tiffany Everett