Christopher Rowden Hill (born 25 December 1946) is a photographer from
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
, Northern Ireland.
Early life
Born on 25 December 1946 he was the second child to parents Verner and Margaret Hill. He has two brothers, Eric and Charles and one sister, Elizabeth.
Although training to go into the family's clothing business, he developed an early passion for photography at the age of 14, often taking photographs of bands at school dances and selling prints to his friends the next day.
He once photographed
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
and sold the pictures around the local schools, making himself "a small fortune"
[http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/manyfaces/ChristopherHill.asp]
He was educated at the
Royal Belfast Academical Institution
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...
Prep school Inchmarlo and then
RBAI itself.
Upon leaving school he became a member of the Old Boy association
Instonians
Instonians is a sports club based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that incorporates rugby union, men's and ladies' hockey and cricket sections. There is also a golf society that plays under the Instonians name.
Instonians Rugby Football, Cricket ...
and a regular player for their rugby team up until his mid-thirties.
Career
In 1978 he left the family firm to set up Christopher Hill Photographic, specialising in sports and theatre photography, and later all aspects of commercial photography including advertising, fashion, still life and architectural.
Winning several awards
boosted his career, including Sports Photograph of the Year 1977 & 1978, from the Sports Council of Northern Ireland
But it is in his
landscape photography
Landscape photography (often shortened to landscape photos) captures the world's outdoor spaces, sometimes vast and unending and other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on human-ma ...
that Hill has really made a name for himself, regularly shooting assignments for the National Trust and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
Over the years has shot many beautiful photographs of Ireland, with which he started one of Ireland's leading photographic libraries: Scenic Ireland.
The library, the largest independent photographic library in Ireland, now contains over 13,000 images of Irish landscapes and cityscapes.
In December, 2008 with designer Colin McCadden he launched the first in his book series entitled "Scenic Ireland," covering the province of Ulster.
References
External links
Scenic IrelandRoyal Belfast Academical InstitutionInstoniansSports Council of Northern IrelandNational Geographic page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Christopher Rowden
1946 births
Living people
20th-century photographers from Northern Ireland
21st-century photographers from Northern Ireland
Artists from Belfast