Hi there,
My name is Frankie Adamson, and I am an award-winning Domestic and Wild Animal photographer from the UK.
Having previously lived in Hong Kong, there I am best known for my business ‘Hounds of Hong Kong’ where I create artistic portraits of people’s canine companions through bespoke portraiture sessions in varied locations around the territory. I am an Associateship holder with The British Institute of Professional Photography (The BIPP) in the Domesticated Animals category, and have won numerous awards for my dog portraiture work in International print and digital competitions. Nowadays, I am back in the UK and launching my brand new dog photography venture Photography by Frankie.
My wildlife images have also received recognition in various competitions. Most recently 2023, I took the Natural World title in The Tog Awards and won the International Region Natural World Category in The BIPP Regional Awards. This work saw me based in Kenya, where I worked in months-long stints in the Masai Mara as one of the photographers in residence for Governor’s Camp. Alongside earning my Associateship last November, I was also awarded a Fellowship for a 20-image strong printed wildlife panel by The BIPP, and now I am so very proud to be able to call myself an FBIPP in the Natural World Category.
What it means to be a Fellowship holder with The BIPP:
A client can have, without a shadow of a doubt, the knowledge that this photographer is at the top of their game.
My Wildlife Photography Philosophy
There are some key differences between the dog portraits I create under the umbrella of ‘Photography by Frankie’ and the images I capture of wild animals.
My signature dog portraiture is very artistic in its style, retouched both with a particular effect in mind and due to the pragmatic aspects of many dogs remaining safely on their lead, especially in the middle of the city. While in both my dog portraiture and my wildlife work I strive to create a connection between the subject and the viewer, each body of work is something very distinct from one another in terms of my creative thought processes and final presentation.
With wildlife, you are often given a fraction of a second to communicate authentic moments of animal behaviour, document its relationship to its environment and, every so often, capture a more traditional portrait. You have no leverage, there’s no trying it one more time and you are dealt the hand you’re given. It’s the unpredictability of it that I love the most because it often leads to the most incredible of surprises, despite more often than not returning with just the memories of an experience rather than any noteworthy images. This, in my opinion, reminds me of how much of a privilege it is when you are invited to share a rare moment of veracity with an animal and even more so when you are able to capture one with your camera.
My wild animal imagery is painterly in style and my work in colour aims to present the different vibrant palettes of each environment documented. Occasionally, an image lends itself beautifully to a black and white conversion, but the majority of my images seek to showcase the stunning hues of the natural environment. My domestic animal portraiture often uses composites and removals both pragmatically and to achieve a particular artistic effect, and by contrast in my wild animal work I keep things a lot more simple and, well, wild. I expect, document and leave the natural world imperfections and distractions in the final image - a reflection of the fact that nature is wonderfully wild and remarkably raw, not manicured and preened to perfection by human hand.
