Hugh Maxwell is an award-winning landscape photographer based in Ayrshire in the south-west of Scotland.
My Journey…
“I was always drawing things as a child so this was the start of my journey. The creative urge returned in my teenage years as I began to explore the Ayrshire countryside when cycling and walking. I wanted to capture the beautiful views I saw to share with family and friends and discovered photography was the perfect way to do this.
A friend used a camera and so naturally I wanted one as well and it was a red, plastic, pocket-sized camera, with a fixed focus lens, that captured ‘slightly out of focus’ panoramic images. I have my parents to thank for my first camera, which if I remember correctly, was obtained through a promotion by collecting vouchers from cigarette packets. I even got some rolls of film to use and it’s the only time I’ve ever been so grateful for my parents smoking!
This was eventually upgraded to my first proper film SLR camera, a Pentax ME-Super with a bashed pentaprism, from Hector McDonald’s camera shop in Kilmarnock. Despite its damaged appearance, it took great photos and my creativity flourished. A passion for both photography and the outdoors developed which has remained to the present day.
I read as many photography books and magazines as I could to learn about light, focus and composition. In my twenties, I won a years worth of black and white film through a competition in Amateur Photography Magazine. My mum wasn’t too happy at the fridge being full of film that’s for sure. Around this time many of my images were published in photography and Scottish interest magazines and a photograph of Greenan Castle on the South Ayrshire coast was also chosen for the front cover of the Ayrshire and Isle of Arran tourist brochure.”
“A steep learning curve followed when I moved over to digital in 2007 when suddenly it was all about pixels and megabytes although I stayed loyal to the Pentax brand continuing to use their cameras. Work and family commitments would often get in the way of photography and for many years I took only images of family and holidays.
In the autumn of 2022, when I was about to turn the big fifty, I took a break from my job of 21 years working in a banking call centre. This gave me more time to get outdoors and enjoy creating images. Being able to travel to locations when the light and weather are looking promising makes all the difference. My creativity and confidence soared and the following year I had a couple of images published in Outdoor Photography Magazine.
The summer of 2024 saw me enter my first national competition, Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. An image I took of the Lowran Burn on the banks of Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway was Commended in the Landscape Category. The image also featured in the official winners book.
A few months later my image of a Winter sunset over the Pow Burn Estuary near Monkton in South Ayrshire, was also shortlisted by the expert judge in the ‘Landscapes’ round of the Amateur Photographer of the Year 2024 competition.
I’m definitely old-fashioned as I believe great images are produced through the craft and skill of the photographer combined with their personal vision. The camera is only a tool we use to achieve this. All my photographs are created in-camera as I aim to spend as little time as possible sitting in front of a computer screen. The images I share on social media are normally accompanied by a short description of my thoughts and feelings at the time of pressing the shutter.
I simply love being outdoors with the camera, capturing natural light in all its forms, and creating memorable images I can share with others. I hope you enjoy looking through my photographs and it would be great if you decided to follow my creative journey on Facebook.
If you would like to get in touch please use the contact page.”
Best Wishes
Hugh Maxwell
“I simply enjoy being outdoors with the camera, capturing natural light in all its forms, and creating memorable images I can share with others.”
— Hugh Maxwell