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Top Ten Tips for Landscape Photographers

An Alternative (real) Artist Statement

OK you've read a philosophical take on what I do, but now for the real and somewhat unconventional artist statement:

  1. Photographing the light is like Fishing!
    You learn about the right conditions for the fish, and then you patiently wait for it to bite. Sometimes, it doesn't. Making up colour on a dull day by slapping on a filter is like buying a fish on the way home and claiming you caught it!
  2. Keep it simple
    Photography is about three variables - controlling the intensity of the light (aperture), for how long you expose the film (shutter/film speed) and focus. Can you imagine having 27 custom functions to control bass, treble and volume on the hi-fi ? The best amplifiers don't even have bass and treble knobs. Think about it.
  3. Seeing is more than looking
    The harder you look, sometimes the less you see. Seeing is about appreciation, connection, discovery. Immerse yourself and let things come to you. And then learn to translate them to the 2d world of the frame of film.
  4. Light is the thing
    Think light first before thing. Things can be interesting in their own right. But light can transform the thing into a magnificent image. American climber/photographer Galen Rowell's approach to seeing fine light and then searching for something earthbound has stuck with me ever since reading his magnificent book Mountain Light in 1987.
  5. Photographing the Light is like Tennis or Cricket!
    None of this stuff is any good if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Roger Federer or Kevin Petersen can hit a 90mph ball perfectly because they sense ahead where it is going to land. If you wait until it is there it is usually too late. Do some pre-planning, look at the weather, think ahead, get out in the rain, look for opportunities, tune in, make your own luck.
  6. Get animated
    Have you seen how fast light moves? Many of my favourite images were there for just a few seconds. If you are not intuitive with the camera controls, you'll miss it. I would certainly have missed most of them had I been waiting with a tripod when the light happened somewhere else. Run around, crouch down, climb higher, become mad in your pursuit when it happens - and enjoy it.
  7. Photographing the Light is like the Biathlon!
    When did you see skiers in the Olympic biathlon use a tripod to shoot the rifle at those little targets? Hand-hold, or use rocks or something squidgy on top of your ice-axe, or lean on a wall or a tree, or use a beanbag. And every time you shoot whilst on the move, or at the top of a steep ascent, BREATHE to slow your heartrate. Practice; perfect your hand-holding techniques.
  8. Get passionate
    If you're reading this and you are not a landscape person, then apply the ideas to your own passion. And if you are interested in photography but somewhat dissatisfied with your results, I'd lay a bet that you'd improve immediately by making photography an extension of something else you love to do.
  9. Do your own thing
    Bob Ross, the legendary 'wet-on-wet, everybody can paint' man said that there is only one rule:- , If it works for you ... that's the rule. Do it. Do it your way. Learn from looking at pictures. Follow your heart and your instincts. Experiment. Challenge the judge (all you camera club people). Discover what is in you that you want to express and say it, say it, say it LOUD.
  10. Light is a state of mind
    'Mountain' light does not have to happen in the mountains. If you think light, you will see it everywhere from the beach to the desert to the city, and right on your own doorstep.

Oh! And just one more thing: BAN 'grad-awfulcolour' filters today.

... Ken Scott

Read the philosophical version ... 2000, updated May 2007

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