We recently had the opportunity to chat to Phil Moran, a brilliant Malvern based photographer. Have a read below of an exclusive interview we did with him.
Tell me about yourself?
Originally from Cheshire, moved to London over 15 years ago then 2 years ago moved to Malvern with my wife and we love the place. We’ve made some great friends and try to integrate into the community.
Unfortunately photography is not my full time job, in fact I don’t make any money from my photography, it’s purely a passion of mine. However about 8 months ago my passion for photography was dwindling and I couldn’t get motivated to go out and take photos, I even considered selling all my equipment and doing something else. I had been following a great local photographer (Andrew Maguire) from Worcester on instagram and he was coming to the end of a 365Photo Challenge (taking a photo every day and posting it) and I decided to give it a go. I’d tried in the past and barely got past January. At the time of writing this I am nearly half way through and loving it, it’s really helped me get back my passion for photography.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-pvIoJnkV_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Tell me about your industry?
Put simply it’s bloody difficult. I know a few photographers around the country and some right here in Worcestershire and my hat goes off to them for being able to make it work and for them to follow their passion. Especially in these current times with the pandemic we are all going through.
It’s all about contacts and word of mouth. I’ve tried to do dog portraits and weddings but this didn’t work, doesn’t mean I wont try them again in the future, who knows.
How did you get into photography?
I picked up my first DSLR and quickly fell in love with photography. As mentioned above photography is not my job but always wanted it to be, however I could never seem to make it work financially so I was happy if it was a hobby. I have always been interested in Mountain Biking and Cars and once I became too lazy to ride I soon made the transition into cycle race photography and when I got my first car then car photography just made sense. When I was made redundant a few years back I read about a way to do estates photography. I quickly applied and before you knew it was driving round the SE of London photographing homes for estate agents, it was starting to look as though it could be a career option, however, we then decided to take the opportunity and leave London.
Not really sure why we chose our new town of Malvern to move to but we’d both been here before and decided it would be a great place to start looking for a new home. Fast forward a few months and we had made the move. Found it difficult to find photography work as all the contacts I had built up over the years were in London and made the decision to get a “proper” job and go back to Facilities Management. Not before we went travelling around Australia, Singapore and Bali for 7 weeks first.
Now if you were to look at my instagram from when I was in London it was all cars and cycle races and now it’s mostly landscapes of one shape or another. How could it not be living in such a beautiful place.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBEPV38nQW0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Favourite places in Worcestershire?
As I am fairly new to the county I am ashamed to say we’ve not done that much exploring other than Malvern and even then we are discovering new places all the time. If anyone wants to drop me a line with suggestions we might make for great photography then please drop me a message on instagram (@moranphoto)
Where would you like to explore that you haven’t yet?
I really, really want to try and get better at Woodland photography so again any tips then please drop me a line
What motivates you?
Currently that’s my 365 Challenge. It’s hard trying to come up with a new image that’s not too similar to the one the day before whilst working full time is difficult but good fun.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA0hrXDngA0/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
What would you say is your biggest hurdle in your industry?
Staying motivated and being able to make it work financially if it’s your job. If like me and it’s a passion/hobby then I’d say time.
Best place to eat or drink in Worcestershire?
This is harder than you might think to pin down to one place as there’s so many great places to eat in Malvern alone let alone the county which as I’ve already stated we are trying to explore, but the one place my wife and I keep coming back to has to be the Chase Inn in Upper Colwall. It’s a small little pub tucked away that does some great food with some great views. You have to try the Steak and Ale Pie, it’s gorgeous and best of all the portions are huge, absolutely huge! Best of all it’s a short walk for me up and over the hill, we’ll happily walk there on a nice warm evening in the summer to catch a sunset or in the rain, it’s that nice and welcoming. Highly recommended.