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I have long had a passion for photography and growing up in rural Oxfordshire I always had the dream of combining it with my love of nature.

I got my first taste of a photographic library at 14 when I was lucky enough to do a week's work experience at Oxford Scientific Films Ltd. It was a specialist company involved in every aspect of wildlife and documentary photography and film making, with the facility to produce content in their dedicated studio. This brief glimpse into a professional image library cemented my desire to become a professional photographer.

I graduated from the University of Derby back in 1997 with a BA (Hons) in Biological Imaging specialising in photography and illustration after which I started at Oxford University Press as a Technical Illustrator. I was involved in producing illustrations for a large number of both academic and commercial titles. During those formative years I learnt about the whole professional digitisation process and gained a host of new skills, centred around scanning and digital image manipulation.

In 2005 I joined what was then the National Trust Photo Library and have been an in-house photographer since 2010, helping to add over 55k images to the library's collection of over 1.5million images. I have been lucky enough to work across regional and national campaigns covering the full range of photographic content, from lifestyle and people, landscapes, gardens, exteriors as well as collection items but my love is for interiors...particularly the more modern ones.

Being able to photograph the amazing landscapes, gardens and houses in the care of the National Trust is a continual joy and privilege and one that I hope will continue for many years to come.

James Dobson.jpg

From 2018 - The  judge for the category 'Breathing Spaces' for the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition.

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