ALAN BURCH, Bsc Hons


Born and educated in Ilford, Essex, Alan Burch studied for and gained a 2/1 Honours Degree in Photographic Sciences at the University of Westminster, and has lectured part-time courses on Adobe Photoshop and Digital Photography techniques at the Isle of Wight College and Dimbola Lodge, the former home of celebrated Victorian photograher Julia Margaret Cameron, in Freshwater, Isle of Wight.

After working in photographic retail for 21 years managing one of the biggest Canon specialists in the country [David S.H. Leung], he decided to move to the Island in May 1999 and set up his own commercial photographic and digital photographic consultancy business, Woody Bay Photographic. He specialises in supplying photographic related computer equipment and has installed complete systems to several distinguished photojournalists. As well as tutoring his clients and students in using Adobe Photoshop, he uses it extensively for his own work and for commercial restoration and retouching.

He was recently commissioned by Images 2000 to restore 50 images of Freshwater and Totland from the past and then in collaboration with Island photographer, Lawrence Gresswell, re-photograph the scenes as they are in the present day. The images, past and present, were then exhibited at Dimbola Lodge and were very well received.

Alan’s exhibition of his own work, ‘Digitally Remastered’, was displayed at Dimbola Lodge in summer 2001. An exhibition of Wildlife Photographs taken in St. Lawrence was diplayed in the Village Hall in 2007.

 

Beken of Cowes, the world famous maritime photographers, is Woody Bay Photographic's largest client, Alan has personally overseen the complete conversion from traditional photographic techniques to entirely digital. They take over 50,000 photos a year on the several Canon EOS 1Ds MKII, 16 million pixel digital SLR cameras, which are stored and worked on 7 bespoke computers and huge server designed, all supplied, built and supported exclusively by Woody Bay Photographic. Examples of their Daily Shoots can be seen here on their website, which Alan acted as a consultant on. The massive archive of glass plates and colour transparencies are gradually being scanned and digitally archived, by employees trained by Alan, using Adobe Photoshop, examples can be seen by scrolling down their web page Here.

 

Other famous clients over the years have included Charlie Waite, Ian Berry, Patrick Ward, Philip Wade, Steve Bacon and the late Terence Donovan.