Creative Freedom in Landscape Photography

The most powerful tool you have on any photography trip is your imagination. It’s also usually the biggest obstruction. Like any pursuit involving kit, many of us spend the first few years mastering the technical aspects. Here there can often be quick progression and that satisfies our human ‘need to succeed’ but it can also lead to repetition, and conscious craft over-shadowing creative instinct.

Photography in its past was firmly rooted in documenting the scene in front of the lens, be it for historical posterity or factual accuracy, it was about capturing not creating. Nowadays, we can be masters of our own visual destiny, we can create the unseen. Be it through the use of filters, speciality lenses or techniques such as ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) or ME (Multiple Exposures) we can shape time and form, and the possibilities are endless. We can be proactive in sculpting and creating our own visual worlds and scenes.

However, whilst the equipment we use is only limited by our creative boundaries, the use of any technique should only ever be to service the aesthetic goal, it should not dictate it. For this work to be successful it must mean something. That can simply be in pursuit of an aesthetic vision in a single image or as part of a wider story-telling narrative, but it cannot just be a display of technique. 

Try to be open minded in breaking your own mould. Use different approaches to the landscape, find one area to visit multiple times in differing conditions. Observe what’s in a location from the widest possible point of view down to the narrowest few centimetres of sand or stone.

Experiment with movement, both of the camera and of yourself. Learn to manipulate time by experimenting with shutter speeds, challenge your own compositional habits, physically touch and feel what the location is all about. Perhaps even read up on the local history be it 100, 1,000 or 1 Million years old – try and understand a location and then create a body of work which means something deeper and connects to it.

The possibilities are endless – go for it!

SEEING faces in strange places...

How often have you looked up and seen a face or shape in a passing cloud? Or perhaps done a double-take of a strangely familiar looking rock or the rather human looking twist and stance of a ‘dancing’ tree perhaps? Seeing shapes and human forms in the natural world is a fairly common experience, but how much of that can be consciously controlled or sought out? And what does it say about our connections to the natural world?

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Ridgeline ‘Face’

Can you spot the face? The Ridgeline runs down the middle of the shadow and light, highlighting the nose with the eye off to the right catching the late afternoon light…

I recently posted this image from my ‘Aotearoa’ series to Instagram and was delighted when someone commented that they could see a face (can you see it in the Ridgeline? Once you see it, you can’t ‘un-see’ it!) Although I didn’t mention it in the post in this instance, I had spotted the face as well but not at the time of capture, that is to say not consciously at least.

Often I will be reviewing images and certain similarities to human forms will leap out at me, as in this instance. Had the face registered with my sub-conscious in the infinitesimal time our brain reacts to such obvious similarities? After all what we are seeing is shapes that mimic something so ingrained in our visual recognition systems (the layout of a face) that all sorts of things could be happening in the grey matter!

There are times I edit and curate the images, share them and someone pops up with something I simply hadn't seen. So what is this down to and what’s causing us to consciously or sub-consciously be aware of these similarities?

Pareidolia is the name of this phenomenon, or certainly of seeing faces in objects. There are all sorts of resources on the web about this and people far more qualified than I to discuss it. But, for the purposes of photography what’s interesting is whether we can actively seek these out, or whether it’s happening in our sub-conscious and only sometimes revealing itself later.

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MESOZOIC ‘FACE’

After months of visiting the same location, on the very last morning this Reptile-like head leapt out at me from the rock below my feet.

The image above (from my MESOZOIC series) was actually the last image shot in the whole series. The images had been made in a very small area of a local beach over multiple visits. All the while I had this story about pre-history, evolution and the time of dinosaurs rumbling around my head. Then, on the very final day and on the way to packing up I just tilted my head and spotted this unmistakable reptilian head in the rock.

There’s no doubt in my mind that because that subject matter was already rooted in my mind I was ‘able’ to decode this shape and pattern into a form that my brain recognised immediately. Had I not been in the throws of that project I’m sure there’s no way it would have leapt out at me.

Alternative ways of seeing and creating imagery in the landscape to evoke similarities or anthropomorphic qualities is nothing new to photography. Both Alfred Stieglitz and Minor White wrote at length about “equivalence”. That is to say, instead of simply depicting the objective and known landscape in a documentary fashion, artists can play visually with non-human subjects (such as clouds, rocks, trees) to show human characteristics or analogies for actions and shapes we understand in the human world. Stuart Franklin writes about this far more coherently than I do in his books ‘Narcissus’ and ‘Analogies’ (Hatje Cantz Publishing) which I would strongly recommend you check out if you’re not familiar with them.

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DIPLODOCUS

Even after months of shooting the work, editing it, curating it and printing it, I had never spotted this Diplodocus shape in the rock.

In the final example above I’ve circled the hidden subject just to help. And, I must admit this is one I hadn’t spotted, which is wonderful! Whilst giving a talk about this body of work someone in the audience pointed out that they saw a Diplodocus in the pattern on the rock. I’d been looking at this work on and off for 2 years, had shot it, edited it, curated it, made a book out of it and never spotted that at all! For me the image was based around that curved ‘wave’ of rock which I linked to the sea and water themes throughout the collection. I was in a sense blinded by my own obsession with that ‘wave’ that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me.

So, a couple of thoughts to end on:

1) I don’t think it’s possible to always go seeking out these shapes or similarities per se. It would be very easy to create a rather contrived body of work if you force it. Rather it often comes from a deeper and more long-term connection with a particular landscape that you grow to know more intimately. Visiting, re-visiting, recognising the changes and subtle differences through the seasons and of shape and form. Without being too much of a hippy about it, I suspect these things sometimes need to come to you when you are in a receptive frame of mind rather than being sought out.

2) Perhaps it’s good to remember that everyone brings their own eyes, thoughts, fears, hopes and visual baggage to each image. I personally think it’s great when viewers pull something different out that even the creator hasn’t spotted. After all, for every smell, taste or feeling we all experience as humans each is 100% unique to ourselves, and I think that’s rather splendid.

Working ‘With’ Restrictions

Many of us have found our movements restricted during 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. From a photography point of view (and whilst keeping a wide berth from the social/political side of things!) I suspect many have felt frustrated that they can’t travel and explore. Strangely, I find that some restrictions can actually help free us up creatively. They could be restrictions of location, of equipment or time. I ran into a very small scale ‘lockdown’ situation myself back in November 2018 whilst bobbing about the South Pacific…

Wide expanse of the South Pacific

Why Was I There? I was very luck to be asked to fly out to New Zealand and spend 12 days aboard a ship as a visiting photography lecturer and guide. It was a great gig to get and of course it was impossible to say “no” to! I managed to grab 10 days after disembarking to explore the South Island of New Zealand and will be releasing those images in December 2020 (I know, it takes me ages to share stuff!).

However, during the first 12 days of the trip I found myself confined to the cabin onboard. Whilst the ship did head to port every few days we did have an extended period at the beginning of the voyage when it was not possible to dock because of the sea conditions. This happened to coincide with me realising I didn’t have a great stomach for sea sailing but you know, you’ve just got to get on with it!

Stuck Onboard! As someone who prefers to roam alone with their camera I found being stuck onboard slightly disconcerting, BUT in some ways it was a very liberating time creatively. When you are restricted to your onboard surroundings the trick is to try and be visually receptive to what’s around you. The deep blue of the sea & sky contrasted against the bright whites of the Ship made for some interesting black & white treatment.

Any of you who’ve seen me talk or been on a workshop with me will also know how I love to shoot in little series and projects. This is something I put into practice at the location, during the edit and in the final presentation. With my camera set to black & white mode the above images are very close to what I was shooting at the time, this is vital if you’re trying to pull together aesthetically consistent and coherent sets when on location.

Advice for restrictions? My advice to anyone with a restriction on their travel or kit is to embrace it! I sometimes ‘make’ people stick to one fixed lens or focal length when on tours with me so they can really start to see in that length. We all walk around with too many options, both in terms of kit and locations, and in my experience we’re often blinded by choice.

Start small, perhaps in your garden or local woodland/beach if you’re lucky enough to be near one. Take one camera, one lens, and fix your focal length. Then make repeat visits to that location many times in various conditions and you’ll start to ‘see’ images in that focal length, and you’ll also start to appreciate the subtleties of that location. Hopefully then you’ll also start to make great images.


LiveStream Sessions - Tuesdays 8pm

We all know 2020 has been a difficult and simply weird year! We have all had to adapt and change our ways of communicating and connecting. Since the Summer I’ve been running a weekly LiveStream session on the Light & Land Facebook page. The team at L&L wanted to reach out and connect with their audience in a ‘new normal’ way and I put my hand up to host the sessions and take the viewers on ‘virtual tours’ around the world with various co-leaders.

We started out with Joe Cornish and Charlie Waite in week 1 & 2 and have since gone on to explore locations and images from the Lake District, Jordan, New York, Stockholm, Slovenia, Italy, Romania and many more. As well as the ‘virtual tours’ we’ve also been doing some creative editing session with myself and Adrian Beasley. And, I also run a monthly ‘Pixel to Print’ session where I discuss the creation of an image from location all the way through to a final live print!

‘Inner Landscapes’ - Shooting Local & Lockdown Projects LiveStream

LAST WEEK: Margaret Soraya (in the 1st half) and I (in the 2nd half) discussed shooting locally (very useful in a Lockdown!) and also a couple of projects we embarked on during the first Lockdown here in the UK. Our work is quite different and so is our approach in some ways, BUT in many other ways it’s very similar as we seek to make engaging and meaningful work.

If you fancy joining in live you can find the sessions on the Light & Land Facebook page and we’re also now streaming at 1080HD to YouTube for the best image quality.

NEXT WEEK: On Tuesday 17th November (8pm UK) I welcome Charlie Waite to the next LiveStream. He’ll be discussing some images from his archives and chatting about the importance of looking back, assessing your images and noting how you have changed your visual approach. Join us live via Facebook, or via the this YouTube post to ask questions and interact with myself and Charlie.

Puglia - Sep 2019 Tour Recap

I’ve just come back from this years Puglia photography tour for Light & Land, and yes, I am missing the late 20 degree heat!! This was my first year running this particular tour but not my first trip to Puglia, in fact it’s an area I’ve grown very fond of, and each time I visit it reveals more of its visual treasures. When the chance came to lead this tour I was more than happy to say “Yes Please!”.

The tour is split into two main sections, for the first 3 nights we stay in the small harbour town of Giovinazzo, just north of Bari on the east coast of Puglia. Then, we move inland to Alberobello, well known for its mass of Trulli homes and stay there for 2 nights before heading back to the UK.

On any trip I spend time discussing ways to approach various locations, all the while my job is to enthuse guests to expand their current approach as opposed to imposing mine. The last thing I should do is create a group of mini-me’s - it’s the sin of any teacher!

Days 1-3: Giovinazzo & Surrounding Area

Our base for the first 3 nights of Giovinazzo is an attractive small harbour town. The hotel is situated within the old town walls and even offers a rooftop terrace for a very quick and easy sunrise or sunset location. From here we branch out to other locations such as Matera, Polignano a Mare, San Vito and Santo Spirito. Each has it’s own charm, visual character and story as the guests found out.

Santo Spirito Harbour

Santo Spirito Harbour

Usually we start with a couple of hours in Santo Spirito on the day of arrival. This area sits behind a couple of long harbour walls and offers a snapshot of the variety of environments we encounter throughout the week in one small microcosm, let’s call it something of a photographic warm-up.

From small details of fishing boats and paraphernalia, to the clean lines of the local architecture, to opportunities for more minimalist long exposure shots. I try to use this area as a visual introduction to Puglia, which may be very different to the guests local environment in the UK. It’s hotter, flatter and commonly featuring a lot more blue sky in Puglia so it can take a few sessions to start to adjust the eyes accordingly.

Movement in San Vito

Movement in San Vito

On our 2nd day we visit San Vito and Polignano a Mare. In the harbour of San Vito there are gloriously coloured boats bobbing gently in the harbour. We discuss ways to try and represent and show that movement, essentially trying to stimulate the thought process of taking images about things, not just of things. ps - This is also site of an extremely good local restaurant (more on those later!)

Polignano a Mare earned the nickname of “Clacton” in our group this year after I explained that ‘a Mare’ essentially means ‘on sea’ and before you know it someone piped up with “like Clacton!?”. No knock on Clacton-on-Sea but I suspect we had better weather in Polignano and here the guests were tasked with really concentrating on, and highlighting, the clean angular lines (and bright white colour) of the architecture here.

Shapes in Polignano

Shapes in Polignano

Heading inland on Day 3 we visit the fascinating Matera, European City of Culture for 2019. This city is carved into the rock and sits astride a large hill with stunning views all around. Matera has an interesting back-story, it had seen various settlers throughout the last 2,000 years but it came to ‘fame’ in Italy around 60 years ago when it was discovered that many families were essentially still living in caves, with children and livestock all under one roof. These rock ‘shanty towns’ were called the Sassi (Sasso is Italian for Rock). Word spread and it became a national scandal that people were still living in this way after the second world war.

In the end, the citizens were moved out of the rock Sassi homes and re-located, some more successfully than others. As part of the tour we visit a local heritage centre where there is an interactive video presentation explaining the history of Matera. It’s important when shooting any location that you have some knowledge of it’s political and natural history, all these elements should be put into your visual melting pot so you can seek to included some of these themes or references in your image making there.

Cave Dwelling in Matera

Cave Dwelling in Matera

Days 4-6: Alberobello & Surrounding Area

After this first part of the tour we head inland to Alberobello for a couple of nights. We choose this time because Alberobello plays host to the Festival of Saints Cosmos & Damian and the town is awash with music, lights and celebrations. This makes for many great photo opportunities and all the guests really enjoyed the buzz around the town, including some great quality local bands playing traditional Italian songs.

However, it’s not all party-time, Alberobello is world renowned for its concentration of Trulli homes. These traditional Puglian homes have been in existence for hundreds of years. Made of dry-wall construction, without water, the design facilitated a quick way to disassemble your lodgings should the Kingdom of Naples tax collectors come knocking!

They are fascinating buildings and no doubt the shape of the roofs in particular are very photogenic. One way to put together a story of the Trulli is to capture many small details and present them in a set or panel of images. Another is just to solely focus on those dynamic rooftop shapes and capture them with a complimentary medley of sky and cloud.

Trulli Rooftop Cones

Trulli Rooftop Cones

From Alberobello we also reach out to locations such as Locorotondo (regarded as one of the Top 10 prettiest villages in Italy) and Ostuni. Also in this leg of the tour we get to spend some time exploring an area of olive groves. Some of the trees here are hundreds of years old and have such texture and character in their trunks.

Puglia has had some issues recently with an aggressive plant bacterium that has wiped out around 15% of the olive trees in the area. With an olive tree population of 60 million (!) this destruction is no small feat. Currently Puglia produces around 40% of Italys olive oil output and scientist and farmers are working hard to secure the trees in this beautiful region for plenty more generations to enjoy.

Olive Trees

Olive Trees

In summary, this is a tour that covers an array of photographic situations and opportunities. From the clean angular lines of the architecture, to the more traditional shapes of the Trulli homes. We also get chance to shoot in harbours and by the sea to experience the movement and dynamism of coastal photography, plus some quality time spent wandering in the olive groves and local landscapes.

I’ll be leading this tour again in 2020 and places are now available to book. It would be great to see you in Puglia, and as I hinted at before, I can promise you the best food and drink you’ll probably find on any Light & Land tour!

It's just "Click Click"...

Photography is easy, right? It's just "click click", or so I'm told...

I have two wonderful nieces aged 10 (Rebecca) and 6 (Chloe). I recently took them out to the woods for a picnic on a warm Sunday afternoon. The 10 year old is very bright and curious and she was asking me about my photography. I'd just been away for a few days preparing a workshop and so I was telling her about what that involves and why people come away for a few days with a photographer to improve their skills and enjoy a nice location. I could see the cogs whirring away inside her mind at high speed as the slightly quizzical look on her face sharpened...

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"I don't really get it" she said, "taking a picture is easy, its just click click, right?!" - These are the words of a 10 year old who's just got their first mobile phone! After an initial hesitation about opening this particular can of worms my obvious answer was that yes, the action of taking the picture is easy, it's just the click of a button. However, there can be pictures that are more interesting or less interesting - I was trying to avoid good and bad, and don't get me started on calling them images not pictures!

As she has some musical prowess I gave the example that playing a note on the piano is easy, you just press it, but playing a piece of music is a bit more complicated. I was making progress in winning her over on this so then we got into what makes a photograph more interesting. Anyone with kids can imagine this was just the start of being pulled into the conversational rabbit hole where the questions come at you from often very unexpected angles of thought!

The 'Golden Spiral' - The proverbial rabbit hole of compositional hypotheses!

The 'Golden Spiral' - The proverbial rabbit hole of compositional hypotheses!

After 10-15 mins or so of me trying my best to distil my thoughts on composition, light, form, nuance, subtlety and the work of the great masters she rather diplomatically took pity on me and said "yes, I suppose some pictures are more interesting than others - I took a great picture on my mobile phone of Chloe wearing rabbit ears and it's amazing!"...Rebecca 1-0 Sam

So, next time you're agonising over a composition, just stick some rabbit ears somewhere in the scene, go click click and you'll be sorted :)