Keith Woolford chats to fellow photographer Paul Wilde about his ‘all consuming’ hobby.
Thanks to his regular contributions to The Village magazine covers and calendars over the years, many readers will have seen and admired the work of Paul Wilde, even if they cannot readily recall his name. So I decided to learn a little more about the man…
Paul’s home, bordering the Abbey Golf Course at Bordesley, would seem an ideal location to pursue an all-consuming hobby like photography.
With nature rather than people being his subject of choice, Paul had another success recently while attempting to photograph the murmuration (starling flocks) over Redditch town centre.
With poor light thwarting his endeavours, adaptive thinking caught the swooping birds on video. BBC TV and radio were quick to interview Paul on his spectacular February footage, which has since gone viral with more than 100,000 views!
Although self employed with his office based at home (he hated the 90-minute journeys into Birmingham) he manages to dedicate time to achieve a great deal of satisfaction through the love of this popular pastime (Facebook claims that two billion pictures are uploaded every day!).
He has also produced charity calendars benefiting Cancer Research UK.
Local walks to and around Forge Mill Museum, and further afield, offer many opportunities to expand his large catalogue of 20,000 images.
Paul is not one to “manipulate” the pictures, apart from adjusting the exposure using Adobe Lightroom on his Apple iMac: “I don’t add new skies; my pictures are pure because I like to do it that way.”
Not that long ago, some of his 50,000+ held images started to make a run for the hills, attempting to escape from an over-filled hard drive, but a more realistic and disciplined approach has given way to an orderly catalogue.
An easy-going sort of chap who’s happy to engage enthusiastically with anyone and known to many on his walks, Paul really enjoys the picture-taking process and sharing his precious photographs with anyone who appreciates an inspirational image or two.
You can see more of Paul’s work and a filmed interview by searching for ‘Keith Woolford’ on YouTube.
Above: Paul out and about (Photo/Keith Woolford) Below: An example of Paul’s work.
