Hi, I'm Mike Coleran, an amateur photographer based in the small, historic market town of Garstang, Lancashire, England. I only took up photography about twenty five years ago when my wife bought me a second-hand digital camera. It was a very basic camera, only about five megapixels, but it kicked off my interest into the fascinating, and often challenging world of digital photography.
I have always had a passion for the great outdoors so landscape photography quickly became my main centre of interest. I feel lucky to live in such a beautiful and diverse part of the world with the Lancashire countryside all around me and the National Parks of the English Lake District, and The Yorkshire Dales just a short distance away.
I do enjoy exploring other subjects with my photography and have had the pleasure of being official photographer for several events such as the Royal Horticultural Society's North West in Bloom Awards at the Floral Hall, Southport, Garstang Walking Festival, Garstang Town Criers Competition, Garstang in Bloom, and several 'shoots' for the local Borough Council. I also like to help out taking photos for local community events. I have judged photo competitions for Wyre Council, Blackpool & Fylde College and Garstang Agricultural Show.
I don't have the patience to sit for hours waiting for a bird or a wild animal to be in the right place for a good photo, and I greatly admire photographers that do this sort of work. I find macro, or close-up photography fascinating, and I do try this from time to time. I have been asked to do wedding photography but I would not want that responsibility - that is best left to the professionals! I have, however, photographed other church based events, ie Christenings, Confirmations, etc.
The equipment I use is (mainly) a Canon EOS 90D camera with various lenses. For my landscape shots my main go to lens is the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8, for close ups Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro, for portraits the Canon 50mm f1.4 and for events/sports the Sigma 100-400 f5-6.3.
Note: I have recently bought (October 2023) a Sigma 150-600mm lens to try out a bit of bird photography, I have some learning to do!
