Growing up in Cornwall I was lucky to spend so much time by the sea. Water-sports seemed to dominate my free time. Hanging out at the beach developed my love for photography and video, naturally filling the gap whilst waiting for the right conditions to get out on the water.

Having studied Maritime Environmental Science I subsequently spent many years working within the water-sports and hospitality industry. 

In 2011 I moved to the Isles of Scilly with my wife, Issy. I have always had a keen eye for the latest gadget and picked up my first drone back in 2014, knowing that filming stuff from the air without the need for a helicopter was going to change how the film industry worked. This led me to setting up my own commercial drone company ‘Above & Below Imagery’ which specialises in both aerial and underwater drone work, which I run alongside my design business ‘5 Island Web Design’.

I feel blessed now that I am able to turn what essentially have been hobbies into my day to day job, getting to work on promotional films and stories for companies such as ITN, BBC, Channel 4’s Devon & Cornwall Series and City Life to Country Life on Channel 5.

Even living on a small set of remote islands you never get tired of going out photographing the same area. There is always that constantly changing light on the sea and the landscape throughout the seasons. It can certainly be a challenging environment to photograph from the air, to get what I call the ‘bucket list shots’. For me that definitely makes getting some images that extra bit rewarding, knowing that behind those pictures there probably lies a pretty epic story!

Gareth Tibbs

Gareth's pictures are also available as:

• photographs
• canvases