About...
I was born and raised in Pembrokeshire spending lots of my childhood between Porthgain, where my family originated from and Broad Haven, where my best friend lived. I owned a camera from a young age and was very much a hobby photographer, taking photos of family, friends and my pets at the time, with the odd landscape thrown in for good measure, although I found them boring... back then. All this was during the days when we had to buy a film of 24 or 36 exposures, send them away and eagerly await the return by post! Looking back at some photos way back then it is clear that I had an interest in composition at a young age but didn't recognise it as anything other than wanting an image to look good.
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Photography took a back seat for a while when I got to working age but it was never far away as I owned a decent camera and tried to take some shots on special occassions. I longed to learn more about photography but due to time and money I never got round to upgrading my camera and was happy with my lot. I never thought I could learn all there is to know about photography either, it always seemed over technical to me.
In 2011 I noticed a severe deterioration in my eyesight with those close to me realising it even more so. After over 12 months of tests with various hospitals they eventually found that there was damage to my Optic Nerve, so much so that I was registered as partially sighted. It was never determined how the damage had come about but pointed towards an injury to my head not long before. During the appoinment in 2012 I was told my sight would never improve, only deteriorate. I was asked if I had any hobbies, to which my reply was "well I do like photography" and was told by the Opthalmologist "well that can be knocked on the head". I had started a new job which thankfully put some adaptions in place to help me with my work but it was still bugging me that someone had told me I couldn't do something I enjoyed anymore. As I am not very good at being told I cannot do anything I decided to ugrade my camera, not any old camera but my first DSLR (Disigtal Single-Lens Reflex). Spending a bit of money on it would drive me more to use it and I was determined to prove I could still take photos despite my eyesight being what it was.
I spent late 2012 and early 2013 constantly learning about photography, reading as much as I could about the science behind it and was determined to get out of 'auto' mode and take photgraphs using my own settings. I created my website and social sites in Spring 2013 which drove me even more to improve.

A year on in 2014 I was asked to hold an exhibition in the Torch Theatre alongside my sister who is a fine pencil artist. Having an exhibition meant there was potential to sell prints which led to me having to start my own small business to register sales. Needless to say I was surprised and extremely proud that people wanted to buy something I had produced. Later that year I was featured in Pembrokeshire Life magazine and two months got my first magazine cover, a moment which I will not forget!
In 2015 I felt confident enough to make another huge step and bought myself another camera, this time is was a Nikon DSLR D810 series (Now upgraded to the D850). Not only was this something I had always dreamed of having, but it had no automatic modes, there was no safety barrier when you want to take a quick shot... you have to program all the settings yourself and I felt confident with this as I had studied as much as there was to know about exposure, aperture and shutter speed. I saw this large expense as an investment in myself and my photography. In late 2015 I ordered a small amount of calendars as gifts for family that coming Christmas. I brought them to work to show some colleagues and immediately had orders for over 20! I had to order more and it seemed huge at the time but that year I sold 50 and was over the moon! It got me thinking that the next year maybe I coud do the same, which I did, and that was the start of the whole calendar story. I have done it every year since and it can now be found in stores throughout the county and I get online sales to USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Portugal to name a few!. It never ceases to amaze me that for such a small county, Pembrokeshire has a huge following!
A year on in 2014 I was asked to hold an exhibition in the Torch Theatre alongside my sister who is a fine pencil artist. Having an exhibition meant there was potential to sell prints which led to me having to start my own small business to register sales. Needless to say I was surprised and extremely proud that people wanted to buy something I had produced. Later that year I was featured in Pembrokeshire Life magazine and two months got my first magazine cover, a moment which I will not forget!
In 2015 I felt confident enough to make another huge step and bought myself another camera, this time is was a Nikon DSLR D810 series (Now upgraded to the D850). Not only was this something I had always dreamed of having, but it had no automatic modes, there was no safety barrier when you want to take a quick shot... you have to program all the settings yourself and I felt confident with this as I had studied as much as there was to know about exposure, aperture and shutter speed. I saw this large expense as an investment in myself and my photography. In late 2015 I ordered a small amount of calendars as gifts for family that coming Christmas. I brought them to work to show some colleagues and immediately had orders for over 20! I had to order more and it seemed huge at the time but that year I sold 50 and was over the moon! It got me thinking that the next year maybe I coud do the same, which I did, and that was the start of the whole calendar story. I have done it every year since and it can now be found in stores throughout the county and I get online sales to USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Portugal to name a few!. It never ceases to amaze me that for such a small county, Pembrokeshire has a huge following!
I have been fortunate enough to write articles for Welsh Country magazine on quite a few occassions. Something which gives me a buzz as much as photography is writing about it and the places I photograph. The thought of taking writing to the next level and writing something a bit more together with my images crosses my mind from time to time but not sure how I would present that, yet. People do say I have an 'eye' for photography which makes me smile as they usually have no idea about my eyesight problem. It is fair to say I do take somewhat unusual angles sometimes but I like to take people out of the norm and make people look at things from a new perspective. It started when wanted to take photos from my dogs point of view and started 'low-level' shots, and grew from there. Despite what the Opthalmologist said, my eyesight has improved, not brilliantly but a vast improvement to what it was ten years ago. Photography is not my main job either. I am one of the managers in a place which offers employment to people with disability and barriers to work and offer myself as a prime example that you can achieve anything despite what disability or condition you may have. Life is there to be challenged. |
Please take a look at my store, the 2025 Pembrokeshire Calendar is now available (limited quantities) and greetings cards are also in stock. All purchases are greatly appreciated.
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Nigel J Bevans retains the copyright to all the images on this website. The images must not be reproduced in electronic or printed form without his permission. Please contact Nigel for permission to display these images. If permission is granted, the image together with a text reference to Nigel J Bevans should be hypertext linked to this web site.
Nigel J Bevans retains the copyright to all the images on this website. The images must not be reproduced in electronic or printed form without his permission. Please contact Nigel for permission to display these images. If permission is granted, the image together with a text reference to Nigel J Bevans should be hypertext linked to this web site.