ambientlife's photostream

"Well I'm 40 but think it's the new 30 so things are always good!, I don't sleep much because I'm always thinking about what I can do to create something new, on a morning I often wake up excited for the day like a kid at Christmas just wanting to get out on the road and get on with it. People say I have a wicked sense of humour, not sure on that one, maybe its just a defence mechanism for the fact I'm always trying to lose weight but enjoy good food too much...!
I love to share my work, the whole creative visual voodoo, the journey from A to B and the chance of arriving at C.
My goal in life is to be myself always, be creative, be true and most of all improve just a little part of peoples lives with images that both entertain and sometimes invoke the feelings that I had when I shot them. I've won awards and I'm always of the thought that maybe they got the wrong Tim Wallace, hey I'm grateful always but never take myself or any achievements too seriously, life's too short and people will forget you quickly. I jumped off a cliff in Norway a few years ago in a BASE jump, why?, well because it felt right for me to do that for myself at that time, I truly believe that anything in life is possible, work hard, be an honest person, tell the people that you love just what they mean to you as often as you can, and most of all be out there shooting because sometimes that's where amazing things can happen."

My Background

I was eight years old when I first saw the magic of a print become real in a mysterious dish of smelly chemicals, from that point it's been one of the biggest loves of my life.

At 16 I started work in the darkrooms of the Daily Mail Group where I learned the art of printing and had my baptism of fire into the world of photojournalism, working with many great photographers from both the National Press and agencies such as The Press Association. At 19 I joined a top agency based in the South West, and went on to spend an increasing amount of my time behind the camera. My slightly 'different' approach to shooting and my understanding of tone and contrast giving me a potentially different outlook on a scene, mixing this with a more 'contemporary' style to my work, I soon found favour with the UK National Press, having work published in the Guardian, Independent and Times. One year later I went into partnership with another mainstream Agency based in the South and continued building on my successes whilst exploring other area's such as Public Relations and Corporate photography with many large UK company contracts until an economic downturn in the country forced me to re-evaluate my options.
At the age of 22 I joined the Royal Navy, serving with 42 Commando Royal Marines in many parts of the world, and after service I followed a more corporate route working with large media companies such as Virgin and Orange.

My main drive is always based on the creativity and quality of the work I produce for a client, a strong relationship built on a firm understanding of their needs and expectations.

The last 3 years has seen Ambient Life continue to go from strength to strength. Scott Kelby, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), featured our work in recently and referred to it as 'some of the most inspirational automotive work to recently come out of the UK'. In 2008 Swiss professional lighting giant Elinchrom showcased the work of a handful of photographers from around the world to inspire their professional clients and show just what can be achieved from using their equipment. Professionals chosen to have their work showcased include some very respected names in the industry such as Drew Gardner and Marco Grob to name a few.

Over recent years we have also seen a very healthy growth in new clients, which I believe is testament to the quality of the work that we produce as we never advertise with virtually all our commissions being generated through referral and from our reputation, something that I feel is very important, and a good measure of our quality and drive within the industry. We have also seen a very high number of features in magazines around the world on our work not to mention an exciting 'industry first' working with Jaguar and Land Rover to hold 'live shoot' car photography seminars at their Castle Bromwich and Halewood headquarters. These seminars have been extremely popular and have been a great success with support from all the major manufacturers as they get behind our work including Hasselblad, Profoto, Epson and Nikon.

I have been fortunate recently to receive awards for my work including the Environmental Photographer of the Year Award in 2008 by Epson, 2nd place runner up for Photographer of the Year 2009 as well as receiving the Associate Distinction Award for Professional and Applied photography by the RPS but very possibly our largest accolade to date has been to be named as one of ten photographers selected by Hasselblad to be members of the new 'Pro Team', a group of professional photographers chosen for the quality and innovation of their work within their field of photography, a very high honour indeed and one that I am particularly proud of.

The future?
Who knows what tomorrow will bring apart from more opportunities.

Tim Wallace