Martin Annand

My name is Martin Annand, and I’m a photographer from Scotland who is now living in England.

I got into photography relatively late and have been shooting for around six years. It came about when I visited my sister, who lived in New Hampshire. I borrowed her camera to take some pics while there.

Something happened when I first looked into that viewfinder, and I have been hooked ever since!

I love the coast, and most of my shots include water, albeit often very stylised water, using neutral density filters and extended exposure camera techniques. I use Lightroom mainly as a catalogue for my shots and edit them solely using Photoshop.

I edit heavily in Photoshop, and I am not ashamed to say that I never wanted to document things and places; it’s always been more about interpretation.

Like in photography and processing, I have more to learn, but I enjoy the journey of trying to get there.

When I started, it was all about mirrorless cameras. Sony seemed to be the leader in this technology then, so I looked for a Sony mirrorless camera.

My first serious camera was the Sony A7III, followed by the Sony A7R III and then the Sony A7R IV. I now have the Sony A7R V.

I’m a hobby photographer and would love more gear or even to change systems. Sony is all I’ve ever known, and I’d like to see what other systems have to offer, but having invested in Sony e-mount lenses over the years, changing systems is not something I can afford at this time.

Sony A7R V – The menu systems on this camera are a touch better than those of its predecessors. I also love that it now has an in-camera bulb timer; gone are the days of controlling your camera with a cheap, unreliable remote shutter and having a wire flapping around when trying to take a long exposure.

I also enjoy using the focus stacking function, which is not always necessary but sometimes handy.

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 DG OS HSM – I chose this lens as I needed a versatile one. I had sold a 16-35mm 24-105mm, and a 70-200mm to purchase my camera body so I needed something to start my lens collection again at the most used focal lengths. I got it as I believe it was up there with the native Sony lens in terms of quality and just a bit cheaper.

Canon TS-E 135mm f/1:4 L Macro – This is an unusual lens, but a work colleague gave me this. I have to say this is the sharpest lens I have ever owned. I use it on my Sony A7R V with a Sigma MC-11 Adapter, which seems to work great, and the fact it’s manual focus means there are no autofocus issues.

I find the focal length great for subjects a little way off the coast, and using the shift function, I can get a little tighter to the topic and take multiple shots and stitch them together in post to get a hi-res image where sometimes the detail can look amazing!

I haven’t investigated its tilt of macro capabilities, but I look forward to trying. I want to see how the wider Canon Tilt-Shift lenses work with the Sony. I’d be impressed if they were anything as sharp as this one.

Sony Zeiss FE 55mm f/1.8 – This lens I purchased to try some portrait shots, mainly dog portraits, which I tried for a bit with varying degrees of success.

It’s a great little lens, and for the price, you can’t go wrong. It works well with the eye AF, and an aperture of 1.8 works well in low light, even if the Sony A7R V isn’t the best at this.

It’s a lens that’s always there; you get asked to take a picture of a pet or family, and it’ll do just what you need it to do.

Benro Mach 3 TMA48CXL – A robust and sturdy tripod is a must for my type of photography. There is nothing worse than waiting in the cold and wind for a four-minute exposure, and when you look on the back of the screen, it’s all blurry because your tripod has moved.

Benro Mach 3 XL – This big tripod is not the lightest but stands two meters plus when fully extended. It is way taller than me, but having this on a steep shoreline is handy, as you can extend that front leg to compensate.

I’ve had this for four years, and it’s been in loads of oily, dirty seawater. After trips with it, you can hear the sand inside crunching around, but with a little cleaning regime, it’s done me proud, and I only had to replace a couple of shake-proof washers.

I think that for the price, it’s a really good bit of kit. I also use it with the Benro G2 ballhead, and I have no complaints.

Kase 100mm Wolverine Neutral Density Filters – and again, I couldn’t do the type of photography I do without my ND filters.  The Wolverine system works well, but I would love to try the new magnetic filters. They look so easy to use.

My filters still work fine despite my best efforts of dropping them, watching them slide down a rocky beach and having to guess where my ten stop is and dip my arm in to fish it out of the sea!

I am reluctant to change them just for the sake of it.

I also have a polariser to take the glare off subjects and to add an extra exposure stop, a 6-stop (for blue hour to sunrise), a 10-stop (for all day) and a 15-stop (for harsh light).

Lowepro Protactic 350 AW – I have had this bag for many years, and it is still going strong. I’m generally not hiking up mountains and don’t need the latest bag technology.

I tend to keep the rain cover it comes with on it all the time, and it looks brand new underneath. With the cover on, I can lay it down on wet sand and rocks and not worry too much.

It keeps my gear dry and protected, so don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. I carry the usual cloths, blower, batteries, chocolate bar, plus a supermarket bag for life. This is handy for picking up litter that shouldn’t be on the beach while waiting for long exposures.

I am pretty new to photography, and I feel that there are many more people out there who can provide advice on techniques and ideas.

However, from my observations, even if you’re not where you want to be, look back at your work from a year ago and see how you’ve progressed. It probably will surprise you, as it did me, and it can spur you to improve even more.

As great as social media is for photographers to see each other’s work, don’t get into comparing. Don’t feel guilty or get frustrated that you’re not posting as much as you want or getting to the locations you’d like and not having the latest kit that other people have.

For my journey, I had to tell myself it’s my hobby, I’m not a professional, and I do it because I love it. It’s my little escape.

Do it at your own pace when you can and with what you’ve got!

I tried being on a few platforms, but it’s all a bit much, so I’m on Instagram, and that’s enough for me to enjoy.

One last thing: don’t be scared to reach out to others who you admire, and if you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask.

The photography community is a friendly, encouraging space, and people are happy to help where they can.

Thank you

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