Chris Winter

Shooting in extreme environments like the freezing cold Falkland Islands and sweltering heat of Iraq, Canon pro Chris knows a thing or two about working under pressure

I was an Electrical Engineer on nuclear Submarines in the Royal Navy for 11 years before I decided to follow my passion and become a naval airman photographer. This gave me unique access to Royalty – I’ve been lucky enough to photograph The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Harry.

The change in career gave me lots of new experiences, from shooting a rescue exercise in the freezing temperatures of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, to the Royal Marines staging a mock assault on an oil rig in the blistering heat of Iraq.

After leaving the military I set up my own business working freelance for design agencies, advertising clients and commercial companies and it’s been great. I’ve had the pleasure of capturing the portraits of many interesting people, a highlight has been the National Portrait Gallery acquiring my portrait of Sir Ranulph Fiennes for their collection. This was a charity shoot for his Coldest Journey expedition to Antarctica, proving you never know what will come from a photoshoot!

I’ve been using Canon kit for more than 12 years and the system is perfect for me – I can depend on it. I use Canon wide-angles for sports and action, primes for portraits and telephotos optics for fast moving subjects.

It has to be said 2020 was a strange year for the creative industry and I changed my practices to allow for cleaning, masks and distancing and so on so that I could continue to do the job that I love.

Chris Winter

www.chriswinter.co.uk