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About David |
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wildlife photography natural history photographer badger watch greetings cards Cornwall images of Cornwall Cornish images David Chapman |
David Chapman was born and brought up in Blackpool, he
attended university in Sheffield and after achieving a degree in
Mathematics he trained to teach. This enabled him to work in areas of
the country that satisfied his birding desire so initially he moved to
Norfolk. After two years he gained promotion and moved to Bridlington,
adjacent to the birding Mecca of Flamborough Head! Three years later he
moved to Cornwall where he was soon promoted to Head of Department at
Helston School and there he still lives many years later. It was during his time in Cornwall that his passion for bird photography really grabbed hold and when he married Sarah they bought a small holding near Hayle. This plot of land is excellent for wildlife with quite varied habitats for its modest size of five acres. David and his wife keep a small number of animals but they are most proud of their achievements in attracting and keeping some interesting wildlife species including Cetti's Warbler, Water Rail, Badgers, Adders as well as many 'common' species. It is sometimes difficult to tell David's hides from the animal shelters but he has taken some lovely images from them (the animal shelters and the hides!), some of which you can see in the gallery on this web site. His photographic subjects have now expanded to all aspects of British wildlife. David's wildlife photography is well respected in Cornwall and he was chairman of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's photographic group from 1998 until he resigned his post to enable him to concentrate on developing his new career in 2002. He still plays a major part in the photo group's organisation, and in 2004 he has become a council member and trustee of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. His images are often used in local newspapers as well as leaflets and on interpretative panels. In 1999 he started to write nature diaries for Cornwall Today and these proved to be very popular, so much so that he has expanded his writing to include monthly features for the Caravan Club magazine, Devon Life, Smallholder and a regular wildlife travel feature for Motorhome Monthly Magazine (David and his wife also have a motorhome!). A recent increase in the demand for David's writing have seen him contributing to The Countryman, The Lady, Home and Country, Birds Illustrated and Bird Watching. The ambition to see his images published more regularly has seen his work used regularly in Bird Watching magazine, Natural World and BBC Wildlife as well as other birding and wildlife journals, he has also had work used in calendars each year since 1998. David has now started to write books about Cornwall, in particular its natural history, for details of these books click here. David is always looking for opportunities to expand his photography and will always consider taking commissions for wildlife and environmental projects. In 2001 he left his post of Head of Maths at Helston secondary school to become a part time teacher, to work on his photography and writing, and then in 2003 he left teaching for better or for worse. David joined the Outdoor Writer's Guild in 2001 and in his first full year of membership he won two of their prestigious awards, one for photography and one for his writing of nature diaries. He is the first person in the history of the guild to be awarded two honours in one year. In 2004 David repeated this feat with another double honour from the guild this time he received one for his photography of conservation in the Outer Hebrides and the other for his writing of a series of articles published in the Caravan Club magazine. In 2005 David took a one year commission from Cornwall Enterprise to photograph the Gardens of Cornwall, click here to view some of the images.Among his other projects David runs a Badger Watch (for details click here) from his small holding, leads photographic workshops and guided walks, gives illustrated talks as well as making and selling photo based products through various outlets from Shetland to Scilly and Pembrokeshire to Lincolnshire. To find your nearest store click here. Enjoy the web site and please feel free to contact David if you have any questions.
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