With a tentative link to the Ansel Adams theme of the last blog, I picked up my book on Yosemite. Among these great images is a photograph (attributed to Galen Rowell) of a climber on El Capitan. While I admire these free climbers with their minimalistic approach to climbing, the whole idea terrifies me. However I suspect that months if not years of planning and training went into the climb. Photography is, by comparison, an easy and, relatively, safe option (unless you are hanging from ropes half way up a cliff face trying to photograph a climber). But good planning and training will help when you are presented with an opportunity to create a great image. I seem to photograph feet quite a lot. That is, when I first unpack a new camera or buy a new lens or attachment, I read the manual while practising using the camera and photograph anything that is handy? - my feet, the dog, the jar of matches by the fireplace. I try the camera on every setting I can find, try holding it in landscape and portrait, change lenses, attach the cable release, flash, tripod, filters etc etc. I like to work in nature so I photograph the garden birds, flowers, butterflies and even the wee moose that lives under the raised bed. So when it is time for a photo session I am well prepared. Minimalist I am not. I usually carry two camera bodies, four lenses, four batteries, a tripod, and a set of graduated filters. So am I prepared - well not always? I was photographing wildlife, hippos, gators and birds from a canoe on a lake in Kenya. I was limited to one camera and a 400mm lens. About 30 seconds before I photographed these eagles fishing, I realised my image card was full and I didn't have another with me. I quickly deleted about ten images from earlier in the day and changed the image quality from RAW to JPG. I had made an error but lots of practise had helped me out. Hope you like the shots. Galen Rowell was a climber and photographer based in California. Tragically he and his wife, Barbara, also a photographer, were killed in a plane crash in 2002, while returning home from a workshop in Alaska. He leaves behind a series of books, mostly of mountain photography. I borrowed one of his books from the library about 15 years ago. The photography was amazing.
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We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. OK I'm biased but the Highlands of Scotland is amazing, so landscape photography should be easy. I have never found it so. This is my most successful attempt to date (limited edition now sold out). Landscape or seascape? In my youth I collected the entire Time Life Library of Photography. There is no volume on landscape photography. In a more up to date search I looked at #landscapephotoraphy on Instagram. Despite the 59 million or so images I found the results disappointing, perhaps even boring (confess I only scanned the first 20 or so pages). The approach is probably contemporary to the time of each "publication" and plays lightly with the more traditional subjects such as landscapes. The Highlands has some great exponents of the art and, locally, Angus Bruce and Chris Puddephatt consistently impress. I think that what they both illustrate is a connection to the place and a persistence to visit time and time again to get the conditions perfect for each photograph. In addition to the "connection" each of their images also exhibit great depth and a good use of light. I may have an appreciation of the need for good light and composition but I doubt I have the connection. Mine is a more fleeting relationship. I once was accused of copying a landscape by a professional photographer. The subject was a view of the Cuillin from Elgol. Indeed I did take a similar picture from the same viewpoint but many years before. If I were to try to copy any landscape I would head for Yosemite and copy Ansel Adams. I would fail of course but maybe a large format camera and one sheet of black and white film would concentrate my effort. |
Neil GerrardThrough these blogs I hope to inspire you into creating better images. I'll illustrate with my own photography and link with other photographers and artists. Archives
August 2022
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