The art of landscape photography

The Art of Landscape Photography
www.stanierimages.co.uk

>>> Understanding your goals
If you look at many successful landscape photographers you will find individuals who came into the art through their deep passion of all things natural. In the biographical pages you will often see they have come from a background of geology, ecology and other jobs with “ology” at the end. Their journey into landscape photography is born by their passion for nature and its workings. It is the wonder generated through their work that inspires them to express their experiences through photography. The goal of every good photographer should not be to make pretty, even spectacular pictures. The same can be said in business. It is said that in setting up a business, if money is your goal then you won’t understand how to set up your business. Like business, good photography must be built upon principals of passion, conviction and knowledge.

>>>The real meaning of creativity
They key to good landscape photography is to understand the processes that go on in nature that cause you to be in the place to make a photograph. This is why those “ologists” are good at their photography. You can go on workshops, read photo magazines, copy others techniques to discover the secret to success, but ultimately this will never point you to truly successful landscape photography. It will only show you how to take pictures like most people take pictures; you will have no style of your own, your images looking like a common picture postcard instead. For some that is all they want. If that is so, then this article isn’t for you. I am talking about the real meaning of creativity, which is a true expression of the self, the limits of which depend on your God given ability. This is not as mysterious as it sounds. It’s about being honest with yourself and recording on film (or flashcard ☺) those things which are of genuine interest to you, not just the pretty view using the rule of thirds.

>>>Your style
Being honest with yourself may result in images that no one else will be interested in. In fact, people may think you are a little odd! I once did a photograph of a hairline crack in the wall’s plaster. It has no meaning or reason for anyone, except me. But it is a process one walks, and it is for a season. That crack in the wall had a weight and curve to it, and if you look at my images of ice for instance you will see a rhythm in the shapes on the ice surface, and it is that same sense of rhythm that caused me to photograph that crack in the wall earlier. For me it was identifying with a force I had to put onto film. I can’t explain it, but abstract artists will certainly know what I am talking of. I don’t mean to be pretentious, but there is more in nature than just ensuring good foreground interest and polarised skies. It is about nurturing a personal relationship with your environment, and everybody, and I mean everybody, has their own style when it comes to translating that into a photograph.

>>>False security
I realise I am perhaps jumping the gun. For many the obstacle is perhaps technical. Yet with today’s technological advances in digital photography it has never been so easy to take well exposed and focussed pictures. Yet this expert technology can give a false sense of security. After all, how can the camera know exactly what you want? Even the best cameras can easily get caught out. So in truth, photo magazines and workshops are excellent places to understand the f-stops and shutter speed dials of photography. Understanding how to manipulate exposure to your own gain is vital. So learn how to switch off your camera’s auto pilot.

>>>Journey of self-discovery
In expressing yourself honestly in your photographs you will take pictures that suddenly mean a great deal to you. They are personal. Few will understand what you are doing. This is because you are on a journey of self discovery. After a short while you will take pictures that are so special to you that you will want to frame them, irrespective of their merit in photographic fraternities. As you walk down the path of creativity and discovery you will begin to develop a distinctive personal style, looking at the world in ways that others don’t. It will be subtle, but like fragrance the small change will be immediately noticeable to others. And folks, what you have is true art. A refined way of seeing. For those with natural ability that personal style will eventually be so refined that they can create images of beauty appreciated by the mainstream public. Personal style and insight into the subject is made accessible to others by layering their style over conventional means of expressing the landscape. It is this fusion that creates images of distinction appreciated by the many.

>>>Don’t be intimidated
In this blog I have tried to explain a creative process and in doing so may have intimidated you. Please don’t be. Explaining creativity is rather like explaining the way the brain causes your arm to move. In reality you just do it and don’t consider the steps to make it happen. For those whose creativity seems to be standing still, I hope explaining the process as I see it has helped. Don’t think whether what you are photographing will look good, think instead, “does this interest me”. Later, try to understand why it interested you. The answer to that question will be your guide.

www.stanierimages.co.uk

DIGITAL VS FILM in LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

DIGITAL VS FILM in LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
www.stanierimages.co.uk

>>> Herald the digital age
The digital versus film argument has for many been already settled. Digital has taken precedence. Even the movie world industry has moved more and more deeply into the digital age, many companies now producing their "films" on high definition digital cameras. There is no doubting the breathtaking pace of technological development in digital image capture. For sure, consumer 35mm film is practically finished, the quality of digital cameras offering extraordinary quality to even the most technophobic user.

>>> So what about Digital in the genre of landscape photography?
I have owned and used a large format 5x4" camera for almost 14 years, splashing out on expensive sheet film and processing through all those years. The business of large format photography is one of expense, hard work and specialisation. So with the herald of digital photography one might think the old fashioned bellows, dark cloth and ground glass screen after more than a century of service, is finally finished. Not yet. For sure, many photographers will be looking to maximise their time and effort to get their images into both their personal portfolios as well as into stock libraries and magazines. Digital is the most efficient method of producing photographs, and the quality of digital cameras is such that an A4 enlargement published in a magazine can look extremely impressive.

However, for all the bells and whistles of digital cameras, there is at present a compromise, should one use it for landscape photography and follow the route of increased productivity. Landscape photography offers a very wide range of lighting situations as well as a broad spectrum of colours, many of which are extremely subtle. It is clear to me that digital still cannot render properly the incredible detail of a landscape in sharpness and colour. It is true that film has it's limitations too, and the photographer either gets around them or exploits them where possible. But the principal reason for large format photography is to get maximum sharpness/resolution of the image, with fairly controllable colour rendition (to an extent controlled either by choice of film, or through colour balance filters that personally I rarely use). The question to ask is this: if you had the most dramatic scene your eyes had so far witnessed and had the choice to render that scene on one format, which would it be? The answer for anyone sensible should be the same - a 5x4 inch transparency (or even 10x8" if you can carry it!). It would certainly not be on a digital camera, even the new medium format ones. The truth is, where quality counts nothing yet competes with large format photography for landscape photography.

It is true though that much of the quality gained using a large format camera is lost when the image is produced in a magazine. Hence why prominent landscape photographer Colin Pryor has, controversially, switched to digital, despite being renowned for using panoramic format cameras to great effect. But the publishng world is a hungry giant and I am sure the commercial pressures to be productive have caused Colin to go the digital route. And why not, if his images are mostly used and seen in magazines.

So if one of Britain's most recognised landscape photographers uses digital for landscape photography then why this blog? The answer is simple. I produce original prints (original meaning the prints are produced directly from the original transparency for maximum quality) for display in frames. The prints I produce are cibachromes, bringing the best qualities out of large format transparencies. In my opinion digital does not compete with this level of sharpness and rendition of detail. The prints I produce are of the highest quality attainable. Moreover, the resolution of a large format transparency would, in my opinion, still attract those advertising agencies which want to produce large scale projects.

I am not defending film, or the traditional ways. I embrace technology wholeheartedly. I use digital for documentary and publicity work. It is has changed the face of the image market completely. Should digital exceed the quality of large format film one day and is affordable, I will be the first in the queue to buy that camera. Interestingly, that raises a question for another blog. Does the instant, non-methodological use of digital cameras and limitless exposure count mean the photographers eye becomes lazy? There is something special, unique and intensely involving when photographing something with a large format camera, looking at an upside down image on the ground glass with a black cloth over your head, while trying to hold it in a wind, calculating bellows extension and taking spot readings, manually cocking the shutter and aperture and loading a film holder etc. Perhaps this wonderful and skilled practice is reason alone to never completely abandon my large format camera, and until digital betters it, I won't.