Stephen Mc Bride Photography - biography

I started photography around the age of 18. I was fascinated with the possibility of producing my own photographs of the natural world. Having studied photography at college I left with a diploma attaining the highest marks in this course for 5 years. I have had a few exhibitions of my work over the years and worked for various advertising agencies in Scotland where I originally come from.

Having also worked on the other side of the camera - doing television, films, model agency work as well as playing music, I have gained a vast knowledge over the years of various media and as such I have always kept one step ahead.

I have also taught photography here in Fermanagh and in Donegal at night classes

I have always felt that the technology just wasn't advanced enough and imposed restrictions on my creative freedom. But now I am in a position to be able to produce images exactly as I envision.

Taking weddings as an example, until recently, even though a client may have been perfectly happy with the results, I wasn't. I can now photograph design and layout an album that is totally unique, and I mean unique! Unlike others I do not use templates: dropping pictures into pre-made or ill-fitting spaces, rather each page of my albums are painstakingly made from scratch to suit the images - not the other way around.

There are no prints stuck on to pages with overlays as in conventional albums. In the larger albums each page is made up of one to 15 or even more images and each page of the larger albums is 16 inches high by 24 inches wide. When each page is made they are then mounted and book bound in a thick hard cover not unlike a large atlas. The outside jacket can be designed either as a conventional dust cover or as a hard acrylic cover, a couple of centimetres thick. On the back are rubber studs so it can be left open on a table. A more durable option but not entirely necessary as each album is supplied in a sturdy black box.

Stephen McBride, Photography