RPS Landscape Magazine, Spring 2023

Landscape

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

LANDSCAPE GROUP

Issue 11

THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol, BS4 3AR, UK rps.org

Incorporated by Royal Charter

Patron

HRH THE PRINCESS OF WALES

President and Chair of Trustees

SIMON HILL FRPS

Chief Executive Officer

DAN JONES

Hon Treasurer

CHARLOTTE FRAIBERG

RPS LANDSCAPE GROUP

Magazine Editor: Ellie Lilly

Assistant Editor: Gaynor Davies ARPS

Magazine Design & Production: Paul Cayton LRPS

Committee

Colin Balfour LRPS: Chair (Officer)

Viv Cotton ARPS: Secretary (Officer)

Mark Edwards LRPS: Treasurer (Officer)

Mark Reeves FRPS: Vice Chair

Chris McIntosh: Professionally-led Events Manager

Howard Klein LRPS: Exhibition and Member-Led Events

Ellie Lilly: Magazine Editor

Peter Fortune: Newsletter Editor

Sue Wright: Website Editor

David Travis ARPS: Circles Co-ordinator

Please send contributions to landscapemagazine@rps.org

COVER IMAGES:

Front: Verity Milligan - Rain Light Trails, Edinburgh

Back: Gray Eaton - St Michael’s Mount Causeway

Landscape is the magazine of the RPS Landscape Group and is provided as part of the annual subscription to the Group.

© 2023 The Royal Photographic Society All rights reserved on behalf of the contributors and authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for such permission must be addressed to the Editor.

The Royal Photographic Society, RPS Landscape Group and the Editor accept no liability for any misuse or breach of copyright by a contributor. The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Royal Photographic Society or of the Landscape group.

In this issue

Regulars

Professional Photographers

6. Gray Eaton

Gray explains how he sets out to create ‘an uncommon image”.

22. Verity Milligan

Verity gives us a guide and some tips on how to create urban landscapes successfully.

40. Joe Cornish Hon FRPS

Joe shares his thoughts on ‘Looking for Landscape Photography’ in the first of a series of articles in collaboration with On Landscape.

Member Contributions

14. John Cuthbert ARPS

In this article John helps us consider and, perhaps, to better understand what photography means to each one of us and why.

34. Lorraine Clifton ARPS

Lorraine shares her recent experience of adopting an alternative approach to her photography.

63. Ellie Lilly

Ellie explores just why photography can be so good for both our mental and physical health.

Landscape Group Competition

See the winning images from each of the 12 months and, on page 61, an article from Steve Baldwin LRPS who was overall winner.

4. Welcome

48. Landscape Group Monthly Competition 2022

Welcome Welcome to Landscape; the magazine of the RPS Landscape Group.

As the new Chair of the Landscape Group I am delighted to introduce this latest edition of the Landscape Magazine.

We hope you enjoy this issue and find it inspirational, educational and motivational.

First of all I’d like to thank our outgoing Magazine Editor, Ellie Lilly. Ellie has done a wonderful job in sourcing several high-quality articles and what you are reading now is largely the fruit of her labours. Ellie has decided to stand down for personal reasons and we wish her well for the future.

I’m delighted to say that we have a new Magazine Editor who will be editing future issues. Candia Peterson is based on the East Coast of the US and you may have read Candia’s articles in previous newsletters. We welcome Candia to this important role and I’m sure Candia will say more in her Editorial next time.

I must also mention and thank Gaynor Davies and Paul Cayton. Gaynor is the Assistant Editor and Paul manages magazine’s design and production.

Gaynor and Paul do an incredible amount of work behind the scenes in putting the magazine together to ensure that you receive a quality magazine, so many thanks to both.

In this edition, we have articles from some outstanding professional photographers.

Featured are: Gray Eaton, the winner of the Coast category of the Landscape Photographer of the Year; Verity Milligan, a commercial professional photographer who specialises in urban landscapes, commercial and advertising work and I’m thrilled to announce the first in a series of articles by Joe Cornish, who writes about his definition of landscape photography and its major themes and categories.

We’re also delighted to include articles from two members who tell their stories of what their photography means to them. These come from Lorraine Clifton, with some wonderful images taken on Richmond Common and John Cuthbert, who has included a collection of his images. And we are also showcasing all the

winning photographs from last year’s monthly landscape competition. Photography can support and help our mental health, physical health and well-being. The last few years in particular have led to an increase in poor mental health and anxiety so I hope many will find the article on health and wellbeing by Ellie Lilly useful and beneficial.

We do hope members will also write in and send some articles to describe how their photography has helped them and to share their stories.

Enjoy this edition and happy reading.

Colin

Colin Balfour LRPS, Chair, RPS Landscape Group

Altered Landscape, Botallack by Joe Cornish Hon FRPS. Read more from Joe on page 40.

Alternative Perspectives

Gray Eaton

Known for his fine art landscape and wildlife photography, Gray Eaton is always keen to explore less obvious photographic opportunities; opportunities which challenge him and give him a greater sense of achievement. Whether that involves taking an alternative approach, choosing an unusual perspective or viewpoint or actually bending some of the ‘rules’ of photography, Gray sets out to achieve “an uncommon image.”

Image A

When I give talks about photography, I routinely hear statements such as ‘it is difficult to find locations that have not been photographed over and over’ or ‘it is difficult to sell images with so many out there’. For many ‘classic’ locations in Britain this might be true and it can cause some frustration and disillusionment among many. Some, however, aspire to obtain images of such locations that are similar to those obtained by the many talented photographers in the UK as a measure of ability etc. But for me,

I do not see it as a problem as I deliberately seek photographic opportunities that are largely unexplored and try to resist the temptation to emulate. I do this not to deliberately challenge the status quo, but more from a sense of achievement. I enjoy the thought process, the planning and results.

When I plan a visit to a landscape location, one of the first things I will do is to look at images on Google Earth, Google Images etc. Such a visit will commonly

yield images of which a high percentage are very similar, from the same viewpoint but with variation in season or time of day, with shutter speed adding time variance. But essentially, the viewpoints will be similar. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the majority of these images, and I am in the ‘if you like it, it is good enough’ club. I am aware of established rules regarding composition, rule of thirds etc., but I don’t always obey them!

Image B

While it is perfectly acceptable to try to emulate great images taken by others, there is nearly always an alternative perspective available for you to explore, which might or might not produce better images, but it is often such challenging shots that win awards. I recently spoke to a couple of high profile judges, asking them ‘why do we see images of the same locations, wildlife etc., over and over in competitions; is this what judges are looking for?’ The replies were the same; ‘it is what we see entered, we are looking for challenging and different images but we don’t often see them’. The discussions went on with predictions that images of the lane of trees in Antrim, monkeys in snow, The Ribblehead Viaduct etc., will all appear next year. With all of that in mind and, as I stated earlier, I look for alternative perspectives and viewpoints in my work, especially for competition

entries. I often have a concept built around a commonly photographed viewpoint, to create an uncommon image. In doing this, I enjoy the thought process, planning, exploring technique, the failure and success and have been fortunate to have been awarded in many competitions over the years with these images.

Let’s look at some examples.

One of my first successes was runner up in the Animal Portraits category of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, with an image of a humble Mallard. This is to me classic – common subject but uncommon viewpoint. If I entered image A (see page 6), whilst it’s a nice stock image it would not be taken seriously in such a competition, whereas image B (see page 7) was awarded.

It is relatively straightforward to photograph a salmon leaping and there are many locations in the U.K. where it is achievable once you have planned for time of year, water level and, obviously, camera and lens choice and settings. But a side-on image tends to say little about the story, the migration, the landscape, the journey. Compare images C and D. C is a nice fish jumping but D tells you about the journey in autumn up a river to spawn. This image was awarded in a competition after a couple of failed attempts due to pre-judging making the incorrect assumption that this image was the product of manipulation – it was not.

I recently won the Coast category in the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition with image E (see page 9) ‘The Sacred Garden,’ taken of the tiny Church of St Cwyfan in Anglesey. I had

Image

Image

Image

this image in my mind’s eye for several years, with several failed trips and thus images, due to water clarity, tide, weather, light and, on one occasion, two bright yellow tents and canoes on the island. You can’t simply remove them in Photoshop in most competitions which require RAW file submissions. This is a single frame image using an underwater camera and not a fish-tank, as was postulated by someone I overheard at the exhibition. Compare this to image F which, though not a great image, is similar to many taken of the church. Image G (see page 11) shows the same viewpoint but with the camera elevated 5m, using a boom and not a drone. In this image, ‘Stairway to Heaven’ the elevated perspective allows the line of rocks to lead you to the church. I used this approach when photographing St Michael’s Mount Causeway, in Cornwall, image H (see page 11).

Another example is an image of Pistyll Rhaeadr, a waterfall near the village of Llanrhaeadrym-Mochnant in Powys, Wales. Almost everybody photographs this dramatic waterfall from around the footbridge at the base of the falls, with water velocity and shutter speed the most common variables, similar to image I (see page 11); though this was taken from within the water, most are taken from the rocks or bridge. However, I want to photograph the falls from the top, looking down, to create a sense of vertigo, a feeling of the point of no return, free-falling. With the aid of an assistant to manage safety equipment, I produced image J (see page 12). Again, this involved a large amount of planning and several attempts and I am still not completely happy with it.

This is a small selection of commonly photographed wildlife and landscapes that I have tried

to challenge and, in the process, been lucky to have won awards for all of these images. My current project is working with Penmon Lighthouse on Anglesey, again photographed countless times, but here is my first attempt at something a little different, image K (see page 12) to complement an earlier award in the Landscape Photographer of the Year, image L (see page 13)

I encourage established photographers to try to look for different perspectives and for novices to emulate the work of others as a measure, but develop your own ideas and visions, as I find that way more rewarding. Even if it doesn’t always work you have learned something along the way.

Image F

Image G

Image H

Image I

Image

Image

www.grayeatonimages.co.uk

Represented by Nature Picture Library, RSPB Images, National Trust Images.

Image

Gray Eaton

John Cuthbert ARPS

In this article Landscape Group member John gives us an insight into what photography means to him. It is an insight which will resonate with so many people and will help us all to consider and, perhaps, to better understand what photography means to each one of us and why.

Life’s Ebb and Flow

A long exposure, where the gentle waves come and go and the lungs follow suit, taking in and expelling air as if at one, lost within the moment.

I, like so many, hide behind a well-practiced smile, portraying an “I am fine” bubbly attitude. Whereas, in reality, like so many souls out there, I have suffered an ‘interesting life’ shall we say and I suffer from major anxiety/stress issues. I groan every waking moment, stutter, shake rhythmically, wobble, drop things, fall over at times and, most days, I have to try my utmost to push the grey cloud aside before getting out of bed.

So, for me, photography gives me an escape, something positive to focus on, which I love; that and nature have offered me so much for decades. Photography offers me a form of life, a reason to live, something I can lose myself in that helps me get by. Without it and being able to express my creativity, I know, hand on heart, I would not be here today.

My final goal would be to achieve an RPS F Panel award in Landscape Photography which I have been working towards over a number of years now.

I have endured many heartaches and difficult times over recent years, losing my mother just over a year ago, a brother and a friend two years ago, the latter having been killed by a young driver. However, I am like my mother in my resilience and strength of character; I am made of rubber and, through the many tears, I rise up, wipe my one good eye (the same brother fired an arrow in my eye at ten), dust myself off and walk on ....my life motto is:

“Keep safe, keep well and, most importantly, keep on being you.”

Huge hug, JC

Ravages of Time

Ravages of Time came about during a rather wet, windy day, drumming home how weather and time impacts on us and our surroundings.

Heavy Metal

Heavy metal is a combination of two images captured at the same site and combined to form a single image that really puts across the power and beauty of the industrial age.

A Perfect Day

Some days everything just seems to flow, sliding into place from the moment of waking and culminating in a fabulous night, where you drift slowly off to sleep. For me, this was one such day.

Tranquillity

Tranquillity was an image that remained on the back burner for well over a year until the tidal and weather conditions all came together.

Grand Pier Teignmouth

Opposites Attract

Opposites Attract came about during an all-night photography session. I loved the way the reflection complimented the composition within the frame and the calmness within the still of night.

Stumped

Stumped grabbed my attention with its placement on site and fine detail enhanced by the moist environment.

Moment in Paradise

This long exposure, for me, portrays warmth, calmness and a sense of tranquillity, all occurring just by spending a few moments in paradise.

Photographing Urban Landscapes

Verity Milligan

Based in Birmingham, Verity Milligan is an award-winning professional photographer and educator. In her commercial work she works with many household names but Verity also loves to shoot the city and especially the one she calls home. Here, she gives us a guide, plus some very useful tips, on how to give yourself the best opportunity to photograph urban landscapes successfully.

I like to think of landscape photography as a broad umbrella term that encompasses both natural and urban environments. When I first got into photography I couldn’t drive and I was often limited to the cityscapes of Birmingham. Although this was frustrating at first, this period of geographical limitation developed into a productive and satisfying ongoing creative relationship with the city and its evolving skyline. It also provided me an opportunity to apply the techniques I would practice in a rural setting to images of the city. In this article I’ll explore some of the techniques and approaches I take towards urban landscape photography.

I tend to approach urban landscape photography from a similar perspective as I would landscape photography. Birmingham is surrounded by sprawling, urban scenery that is in constant evolution. You might associate shooting in a city centre with street photography but I enjoy the challenge of finding beauty in the architecture and

showing off unique features of the city. I like to explore the city across all parts of the day. Sunrise is quiet and can bring with it atmospheric conditions but the joy of urban photography is that there is something interesting to photograph no matter the time or season, for that matter. Cities provide abundant photographic opportunities, whether it’s spring or autumn, summer or winter. Birmingham, like many other cities in the UK, has a mix of modern and historic buildings standing in juxtaposition to each other and I enjoy capturing both in the same frame, contextualised by the surrounding space. Similarly, cities offer up the chance to capture surroundings from different perspectives. The urban sprawl can look quite different at street level compared to an elevated perspective.

One of the most interesting aspects of building a creative relationship with an urban centre such as Birmingham is that you can become an unwitting documentarian. Unlike nature,

urban scenery can change rapidly and, often, vistas can appear and disappear within a short space of time. Returning to capture the city time and again facilitates producing a body of work that not only shows the urban space but how it fluctuates over the space of months and years.

Get to know the city

In my earlier days photographing Birmingham I regularly visited places that might be considered obvious, such as Selfridges, Gas Street Basin and Chamberlain Square. I was walking in the footsteps of many other superb photographers whilst trying to forge my own style. In those first few years of capturing urban landscape photos I was obsessed with colour and the drama that sunrise or sunset could bring to an image and I was often guilty of over- processing. However, cutting my teeth in such a manner meant I walked the streets of Birmingham and really got to know the city. This allowed me to create a map in my mind of locations that would

look good in different conditions. I’m not the kind of person who likes to just photograph a location once, like a tick-box exercise. For me, there is a joy in returning to locations, as every time the light is different and you never know how the conditions might impact on the scenery.

Embracing the Gloom

Unfortunately, creating the same imagery or chasing similar conditions repeatedly can impact on creativity and I found that limiting myself to photographic time at either end of the day, when I perceived the light to be ‘best’, started to impact on my creativity, especially as it’s not often that we encounter conditions considered ‘good’ or even ‘very good’. I won’t even utter the word ‘perfect’ as I’m unsure that’s obtainable. As photographers, there is always something that could be better! After a few years of chasing

conditions, I eased into something I like to call ‘embracing the gloom’, where I found beauty in the grey, the rain, and the occasional drama that comes with bad weather. This involved moving away from the notion of shooting during the golden hour and concentrating more on exploring other times of the day, especially the blue hour, when the city is descending into the evening. I find this an interesting time to shoot in an urban environment because it provides a completely different set of challenges. Much like photographing during the golden hour(s), there is a limited amount of time when civil twilight provides optimal shooting conditions. Once twilight becomes night, the scene loses some of the magic and atmosphere. This can be the perfect time for long exposures because of the shortage in light and, in urban environments, there are always opportunities for light trails to add some interest to an

image. Another bonus of shooting during the evening is that I’m not beholden to the weather. I’m capturing the relationship between the absence of daylight and the abundance of artificial light so cloudy skies can often enhance the image.

A guide to shooting the city, whatever the weather

People can add context. Cities are full of people and it’s hard to avoid having them in imagery but they also give context and life to a scene. I enjoy including people in my urban landscapes to give scale, but also interest, to a foreground. This works especially well during interesting light and weather. Low sun can offer up long shadows, acting as leading lines and complementing the surrounding architecture and items such as umbrellas during rain showers can provide a pop of colour to an image, especially at dusk.

Birmingham in fog

Rain can lead to interesting skies. Rain can put people off from going out with their camera but these can be some of the most interesting conditions to shoot in the city (although I recommend investing in some good waterproof clothing). Specifically, there is potential both before and after the heavens open to invigorate a scene, especially at either end of the day. If you get lucky, the conditions could conspire to create colour and light in the sky as the sun bounces off the cloud and kicks back in style. These conditions have led to some of my most favourite urban landscape shots.

Think outside of the norm. I’m guilty of this myself but urban landscapes aren’t just about an illustrative representation of the skyline; there are myriad

opportunities to represent the space in more abstract terms. Some of my favourite images of Birmingham depict the architecture in an abstract fashion, whether it’s the façade of the library or the reflection of architecture in one of the various water features. Allowing the opportunity to see the city in a different way can often unlock creativity and become a satisfying endeavour.

Rain means puddles and reflections. While passing rain showers won’t always result in glorious sunsets or sunrises, they often do leave behind puddles of water that can be used to great creative effect. Although Birmingham has plenty of water, especially the numerous canals, puddles mean reflections in unusual places, ensuring a unique

and interesting perspective on familiar surroundings as long as you’re willing to get low to the ground. In these situations a circular polariser can be useful for both enhancing (and reducing) reflections when required.

It’s not all about the city centre. It’s easy to think that the city can only be photographed when in the city itself but often the city, especially one as big as Birmingham, can be seen from miles around. I enjoy exploring the skyline in different contexts, such as how it looks from the various natural beauty spots such as Clent or the Lickey Hills. Often this requires a long lens but can offer up some potentially intriguing photographic opportunities.

Birmingham City

BT Tower in the fog - Birmingham

Fog in the city - Birmingham

Cromwell Street - Birmingham

Overcast skies can enhance long exposures. If you find yourself shooting during windy weather, using an ND filter to create intriguing long exposures can be really fun. Wet, windy weather means the clouds move faster than usual and even a 30-second exposure can give an impression of movement and narrative in a single frame. This can be even more effective when including transportation to create light trails. In Birmingham the trams provide endless opportunities to add light trails to long exposures, especially during dusk.

Fog makes everything timeless and atmospheric. If there is one weather condition that I wish I could shoot in more, it’s fog. Because cities tend to be a little warmer than rural areas, fog is a rare occurrence but that makes it even more special. People become spectres against non-existent backdrops and monotonous architecture

becomes ethereal, making the imagery feel timeless. On the even rarer occasion that the light breaks through, the results can be tremendous.

Falling rain, sleet and snow. If fog is rare in the city, then snow can be even rarer. There have been a few times when I’ve seen Birmingham blanketed with snow but snow storms and sleet showers are more frequent, which again have the potential to turn the mundane into something altogether more atmospheric. In this situation, deploying a fast shutter speed to capture the individual droplets or flakes can augment the feeling of an image. This can be especially intriguing if there’s some backlight but, even without, the whirl of rain or snow isolated in the moment can be creatively satisfying.

Snow brings uniformity. As a child, snow can be magical but, as an adult, it’s seen more as an inconvenience. Seen in the

right light however, it can bring distinct opportunities. Snow, especially just after it has fallen (before it becomes slushy or used to make snowmen) provides a homogeneity to the landscape. It condenses chaotic scenes into something much more uniform. I particularly enjoy the neutral palette that snow provides and it’s one of those weather conditions I look forward to every winter.

Tips

Sturdy, reliable tripod

Photography in urban spaces is about telling the story of the architecture at various points in the day during different times of the year. If you’re shooting in low light then a tripod will allow you to create sharp images and provide much more creative control, enabling such processes as long exposures.

And on that note, invest in some decent filters. I treat urban photography the same way I do

Foggy morning - Birmingham

landscape photography and a good set of filters enables you to make the most out of the light. Using a 10-stop will allow you to create compelling long exposures and a circular polariser can reduce or enhance reflections and glare when capturing architecture/water.

Composition is the key. Experimenting with composition can have a big impact on your images. I like to use my phone to explore different angles and framing before using my ‘big camera’. Moving the position of your camera can influence the mood and feeling of an image. Shooting from a low angle can increase the impact of architecture and if you shoot from a high perspective (such as a rooftop) this provides an opportunity to visualise the city differently.

Reflections. Many urban spaces have waterways such as canals or reservoirs based in or near the city. This can provide plentiful opportunity to photograph distinctive cityscapes, especially around sunrise when there is more chance of the water being still and reflective.

Shooting during civil twilight. Cities have a different atmosphere at night, especially during dusk when the lights come on. This can be a good time to capture the city as commuters will be heading home, providing opportunities for long exposures of light trails, evoking a sense of movement and life in an image. Kit

Good gloves. A lot of urban photography is done during the colder months of the year

as I prefer the light during these periods. Cold hands are never appreciated so invest in a good pair of gloves to minimise exposure to the cold, especially during those early mornings.

Lens hood. This is invaluable if you’re capturing photos during the golden hour when the sun is low in the sky. I’m not a huge fan of lens flare so try to avoid it where possible and a lens hood can really help with that. It is also useful for reducing rain/snow on the lens when the weather is inclement.

Lens cloths. A dry lens cloth is essential, especially when shooting in bad weather, as those rain spots will show up on the image. If you wash your lens cloths, try to do so without fabric conditioner as it will reduce the effectiveness.

Frozen Gas Street - Birmingham

Gas Street Fog - Birmingham

Library Tram - Birmingham

Selfridges - Birmingham

Shoot at Night (2) - Rotunda - Birmingham

Umbrella. The simple umbrella can be a useful tool when shooting in difficult conditions. Depending on the direction of the rain and wind, this will allow you to keep your camera, lens and any filters dry.

Like any creative process, urban landscape photography is about forming a relationship with the space and representing it in your own unique style. I often find that my urban landscape work has a significant impact on how I view the natural world and my work in each space is informed by the other. Cities might not have obvious beauty but there are plenty of interesting scenes waiting to be discovered, whatever the weather.

Verity Milligan

www.veritymilliganphotography.com

Hitchcock

Reflection - Gas Street Basin - Birmingham

Tram - Snow - Birmingham

Tram - Fog - Birmingham

Lorraine Clifton ARPS

Night owl or morning lark? Most of us seem to fit in to one or other of those categories and it isn’t always easy to adopt the alternative approach. And yet, there is so much to be gained by getting up and out early to capture those special moments. Here, Landscape Group member Lorraine tells us about her experiences and shows us the results.

I love looking at Landscape images, from grand vistas to intimate details, and enjoy having a go myself. It is a growing interest and the reason why I recently attended my first RPS Landscape Group weekend in Harrogate in March.

However, I have one big problem: I hate getting up pre-sunrise to capture those golden hour images. No matter how much I love it once I am out I can’t bring myself to believe that I will when it comes to getting up. So, whilst I live less than a mile from Richmond park, I have few images I rate from there.

But, on 9th December I determined that I really would be there next morning in time to make the most of the forecast frost. The good thing about December is the late sunrise so, up at 7am, pausing only to collect camera, 100-400mm lens and a thermos mug of coffee and I was off to walk to the park. Delaying only to snap a frosty view of the Thames.

This meant that I failed to get to Pen ponds (still 200 metres ahead of here) by sunrise.

So I paused to take some woodland details.

Proceeding to the ponds where I found myself in the company of quite a few photographers, most more organised than me and either in place with tripods erected to catch the sunrise or with larger lenses hunting deer. Undeterred I spent a happy hour wandering around using only the 100-400mm lens to capture what took my fancy.

So much fun was it that, seeing the forecast of fog, I decided to be there again the next morning. No sunrise visible at all but I was lucky enough to find some red deer close to the ponds.

And then snow was forecast – so an unprecedented third pre-breakfast excursion.

OK, not very much snow but enough to enjoy and with an obliging fallow deer or two to include.

A poor forecast for the fourth morning was both a disappointment and an opportunity for a relaxed breakfast but I am determined to repeat it all again some time soon.

Looking for Landscape Photography

We are thrilled to be publishing the first in a series of articles by Joe Cornish. These articles were previously published in On Landscape magazine. Joe is co-founder of On Landscape magazine and we are delighted to be working with the team there to bring you more high quality articles on landscape photography.

His personal website is www.joecornishphotographer.com

Joe Cornish HonFRPS

Joe Cornish HonFRPS

Ontological Minestrone

I was recently asked to come up with a definition of landscape photography by the RPS, a remarkable turn of events for someone with almost no academic qualifications. This proved both a fascinating and near impossible endeavour.

Only very slightly altered, this is my final text in question: “The word, landscape, is more than territory, land, ground, or property. Landscape is also a concept, a view, a prospect, a perspective. Its association with art is indivisible having its origins as a word from Middle Dutch, circa 1600, related to painting.”

Landscape is widely considered to be the most popular theme in all photography. Although the limits of the genre subject matter are debated, there can be no doubt that definitions of landscape in photography are broad. They include grand vistas of mountain and sea which may encompass hundreds of square miles, to small natural details of just a few square centimetres. Landscape can be about the iconic, the sublime, the geographic; it can be about habitat, about the environment, about landscapes altered by industry, dereliction, contamination, aftermath of natural catastrophes, war, urban sprawl. Landscape can illustrate

agricultural practice, pastoral beauty, intimate details from nature… from the poles to the equator, and from below sea level to the mountain tops, the list of landscape possibilities seems almost endless.

While it is difficult to define all the possible strands of landscape photography, perhaps a common definition might stand around emphasis…so although people, animals and inanimate objects may be present in the pictures, any players in the scene are subordinate to the landscape itself as seen through the eye of the camera.

Photographers may see landscape as an objective pursuit, aiming to represent what they see with an emotional detachment, even as scientific evidence. Or they may use it purely as an exploration of their inner lives, as a source of metaphor, reflecting their deepest feelings and concerns. There may be a strong political or environmental dimension in landscape photography. Representing natural beauty, or grim dereliction may be a matter of identity for the photographer, even of pride or shame. There may be a mix of all these intents, or perhaps none at all.

The technical approaches of landscape photography are wide and may include the rigorous discipline of large format and tripod to the more spontaneous hand-held and phone photograph. Intentional Camera Movement is almost a sub-genre of its own and, additionally, drone imagery is a burgeoning and revolutionary thread in contemporary landscape photography.

At a time when our planetary ecosystems are themselves being endangered by human activity and the environment is the burning issue of our time, landscape photography has never been more relevant or central to public discourse and debate. At its best, landscape photography may give an insight into the landscape photographed and also into the life and perspective of the photographer. As in all areas of photography, landscape is a “theme of infinite potential.”

The RPS actually wanted a one sentence answer; on that count I failed in my quest rather spectacularly.

Nevertheless, I felt grateful for the challenge. It forced me to question my own motivations, my commitment, my craft. Having seen the dedication of so many of my contemporaries to their lifelong passion, I couldn’t help but feel that my own efforts were…all over the place. Proper landscape photographers mine their themes and agendas deeply, producing stylistically consistent and laudably coherent visual narratives. My own work – to me at least – seems a near random and eclectic mash-up. I wonder if I am a mere dilettante?

When I look back at my career I realise that although I strongly ‘identify’ – in the modern parlance – as a landscape photographer, my background is rather less highbrow. For a few years I made a

living (just) doing portraits, office interiors, and long-since defunct pieces of office machinery.

In 1986, a modest book project about the founders of the National Trust might have proved a breakthrough. The total fee for this project was £400. The writer kindly ferried me around to the various sites, and covered my food costs; the fee paid for my film and processing (almost). It was hardly an auspicious beginning.

But the publishers liked my photographs. They offered me

a travel guide book on a French region (Loire). This eventually turned into a series of eleven. Subsequently other publishers followed and enough money to put food on the table. Travel photography became my career. It made a move to North Yorkshire possible and eventually I would move on creatively too. But for a long time the travel photography habit remained.

It was a workflow of strategy, preparation, pre-visualisation, working to optimise the lighting, trying to load the dice in my

Intimate Landscape: Dewdrop Galaxy

Landscape as Habitat: Greenland

The Sublime: Greenland

Iconic Landscape: Yosemite

Altered Landscape: Strath Conon

favour. Method, planning, tactics. I didn’t really want to confirm the popular view – to reinforce stereotypes of place – but that is often the role of the travel photographer anxious to please their client, and so, inevitably, some of the time I did just that. If landscape is a creative calling (I believe it is) surely it is our imaginative response to the landscape and the conditions, translated through our own personal filter, that matters; being spontaneous, personal, critical, unorthodox surely? A strong emphasis on atmosphere, mood, emotion, expression, concepts. Nearly ten years of travel photography practice meant my methods were often far from that. Has my travel work contaminated my development as a landscape photographer? Or is the crossover between these two forms of our art inevitable, broad and maybe even healthy?

In an attempt to understand this better I analysed my own work. What was it about? What are my interests, my obsessions? What am I trying to say? What are my beliefs and feelings?

How do I see the world?

Have I escaped my travel photography strait-jacket?

Reflecting the conclusions of the text above, I realised that my own work (from my point of view at least) could be divided, very roughly, into the following:

• Geographic Landscape

• Iconic Landscape

• The Grand Vista

• The Sublime

• Intimate Landscape

• Altered Landscape

• The Metaphoric Landscape

• Landscape as Habitat

• The Landscape of Memory

All of which might look like category minestrone. But there has been a purpose: To probe my own motivation, curiosity and creativity as a photographer. This inquiry formed the basis for a talk entitled ‘Landscape in practice’… this is how I have come to see my own photography.

“In the next episode” I’ll look at the first of these categories and get to grips with the Geographic Landscape.

The Grand Vista: Scafell Pike

Metaphoric Landscape: Fire Damage, Mt Sterling

The Landscape of Memory: Time Flows, Rum from Eigg

And the winners of the 2022 Landscape Group Monthly Competition are….

We are very pleased to showcase each of the 12 winning images in all their glory on the following pages and we would like to thank each of the winners for allowing their images to be featured in the group’s magazine.

This year’s winning images were selected by professional photographer Alex Hare who many of you may know. We are very grateful to Alex for all the time he has invested in carefully reviewing the images and selecting his final list. He explained how his role “as a judge is something I hope can offer a fair, balanced and constructive means for understanding how I look at your photos and assess their merits”. Alex used a set of criteria to make his decisions and more information about that and his views on the individual winner’s images can be found at https://shorturl.at/fjryZ.

Like many of the things that the group organises, the competition would not happen without the input from members and willing volunteers. We would therefore especially like to thank Sue Wright, the group’s web editor, for all her time and efforts in administering such a successful and ongoing project, from the initial idea through to making it happen. And it is not too late to start entering this year’s competition! You can find details on the website at https://rps.org?groups/landscape/monthly-competition/

January

Autumnal Hue 11 by

Mohammed Arfan Asif FRPS

An isolated tree or a group of them are beautiful subjects for landscape photography. The well preserved agricultural fields, some of which are UNESCO World heritage sites like in Tuscany, are popular locations. During autumn they have a unique and fascinating hue as most areas are experiencing the harvest season. The browns of the earth and greens of the durum wheat present a mesmerising mosaic of spaces with alternating and repeated patterns for the discerning photo artist. It is important that these rural regions are supported adequately to achieve sustainable development. Interestingly, these terrains have been nurtured and maintained for a long time. Therefore, the distinctive aesthetics have inspired many artists for centuries. What is seen is not raw nature but an intimate relationship of man with nature. I cherish my memorable journeys in Italy, France, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and the less popular Czech Republic where Autumnal Hue 11 was taken. I strongly believe that the conservation of such agricultural heritage sites should be considered important as architectural and archaeological locations. The early morning light at this place was beautiful and the shades soothing to the eye.

View more of Arfan’s photography on Instagram www.instagram.com/arfan_asif_photography/

February

Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s by Chris Griffin

I am fortunate that living in Surrey I am only about a half hour train ride away from London and one of my favourite areas for Landscape Photography is the South Bank. The shot was taken just before Christmas last year and four of us from my local camera club in East Grinstead travelled into London to see what nightscapes we could capture in the pre-festive period. One of my favourite places for night shooting is St. Paul’s Cathedral but unfortunately the buildings immediately in front of St Paul’s are being refurbished and are currently covered in white sheeting. Fortunately, by going beyond the Millennium Bridge towards Waterloo, much of the sheeting is hidden in the shot and I was very pleased with the result. The reflection of the bridge on the Thames and the Millennium Bridge itself provide nice leading lines to St Paul’s and I managed to get the diagonal in the lower right-hand corner of the image. Image was taken with my Nikon D850 and 24-70 f/2.8E ED VR. ISO 100, F/5.6, 15s.

March

Time At Seilebost by William Watson

Camera and lens: Fuji X-T3, Fuji XF 16-80mm lens at 41mm

Exposure: f/22, ISO 80 for 0.4 seconds

ICM Movement: Single diagonal sweep from upper right with a pause at the beginning to let details register Post Processing: In Lightroom, to add contrast and manage lighting and saturation within the image

The photograph was taken in the late afternoon after returning to the workshop base at Seilebost from a trip down West Harris photographing the crashing waves. I sat down in the conservatory with a cuppa and took this single exposure ICM through the rain-streaked window - far removed from the normal image of a Landscape Photographer as being out in all weathers!

I’ve been trying to develop my ICM for a few years with some of the works of Turner as my main inspiration. The final ICM image may be from a single image (as here) or from combining a number of images (e.g. in the style of Andy Gray). I find that, when successful, the ICM image can remove fine detail and convey much more in terms of feeling for the subject.

See more of William’s photography at: https://flickr.com/photos/beardedpixel

April

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the Isle of Harris and often difficult to know which way to point the camera as opportunities present themselves in every direction. Walking onto this deserted beach I thought about what I wanted to say with the image I was creating. I wanted to capture the raw nature of the landscape, the weather, the crashing waves, the distant hills shrouded in cloud, and the stunning pastel colours of sea, land and sky. I hoped that I could create something that gives the viewer a real sense of the atmosphere, the power and the sounds that I experienced at that time. I found my composition and left the camera in the same place as I took a number of images, trying to capture the perfect moment when the waves were retreating back down the beach.

Camera and lens: Nikon Z7II, Nikkor Z f/2.8 VR S 70-200mm. Exposure: f/14, ISO 64, 3.0 seconds

See more of Steve’s photography at: website www.mckinnellphotography.co.uk

Traigh Scarasta by Steve Ball

Sunday Afternoon Stroll by Brian Lunt

The location is West Kirby on a tidal washed lake looking toward North Wales hills, Flintshire. It’s a great place for photography and very close to me. A good place for walking where you can walk out to islands. There are lots of birds, some seals and a good location for sunsets. This was one of those very bright and warm days with high greyish clouds, giving a white sky.

Camera is a Canon 5D SR Lens Canon 100-400mm

Yes, a telephoto zoom which I have used for landscapes for a long time.

I’ve had a camera in my hands since my 10th birthday. I’m now 69 and have taken many photos but sadly a lot got lost while moving but it’s a good excuse to take many more landscape photos which I love.

Each month, I look forward to seeing the photos uploaded to RPS Landscape group competition.

Galloway Evening by Peter Stott LRPS

This picture was taken in Galloway, just north of Gatehouse of Fleet in the Galloway Forest Park, Scotland. The lowland area of Dumfries and Galloway lies between Cumbria to the south and the Scottish Lowlands to the north. There is arable farming along the coast and inland valleys, and cattle and sheep farming on the shallow soils of the more windswept and barren uplands. The northern area of Galloway (to the right in this picture) is an area of wild landscapes, reputed to be the last remaining wilderness in Britain south of the Highlands. To the south (left in this picture) lies more arable land descending to the coast and the Solway Firth. Galloway is largely undiscovered by tourists who pass it by on their way to the Highlands. This is exactly how the locals like it.

The picture was taken in April when a cold wind was blowing across the hills from the north, giving misty conditions in both the morning and evening; but in the late afternoon there were occasional shafts of bright sunlight. I had found this spot when we first arrived on vacation, noting the leading lines created by the stone wall, the focal point of the distant hillside and the opportunity which would be offered by strong sunlight from the east. I like this picture because it highlights the rapidly changing weather in this rural area and the effect that farming has had on the natural landscape. Canon EOS 5D Mk4, Lens EF 24-70 @ 30mm, 1/125 sec f9, ISO 100

July

Here Comes the Storm by Stephen Gledhill

“Here Comes The Storm” could have so easily been missed. In 2016, my wife and I were at the end of a very successful photography week in Yellowstone NP and The Tetons with our group of American photography friends. We were taking a short break at an art gallery just to the north of Jackson Hole when one of our number yelled “look out the window”. There was a rush outside to get our cameras from the cars and over the course of only a few minutes the storm developed and then quickly petered out. Not all great photos are the result of careful planning! A great shot can crop up anytime and anywhere. “Be Prepared” is the motto - even if it’s your iPhone! The car park was the perfect location.

Sony A7II - 24-70mm at - 34mm - 1/1000s - f8 - ISO100

See more of Stephen’s photography at: www.virtuallygrey.co.uk

August

South from Box Hill by Peter Stott

The panorama south from the chalk ridge of Surrey’s Box Hill traverses the Weald to the South Downs. It is a heavily eroded cretaceous landscape comprising a succession of low ridges of alternating sandstones and clays. This high contrast image was taken at sunrise on a cold January day in 2022 when strong shadows highlighted the gentle undulations in the terrain. There was little wind which allowed the mist to form and the smoke from field fires to add interest. It is curious that in the foreground the smoke is drifting to the east and in the background, to the west.

See more of Peter’s photography at: peterstott.myportfolio.com

September

Moored by Stephen Baldwin LRPS

Moored at Heybridge Basin on the Blackwater Estuary, Telegraph is an ex-fishing vessel known as a Boston Smack. She is on the national historic ships register and has been undergoing renovations for several years now and celebrated her centenary in 2006.

This photograph was taken at low tide just after sunrise when the sun had risen high enough to illuminate the reeds which are characteristic of this part of the Essex Saltings. The sky was awash with colour on this particular morning which made for an attractive backdrop.

I have been visiting Heybridge Basin with my camera for years. Being there early morning, often alone, with just the sounds of the wading birds for company is good for the soul.

The image was processed LR Classic principally to lift shadow detail.

You can see more of Steve’s work on social media: Instagram: stevebaldwinphoto / Vero: stevebaldwinphoto Twitter: @stevestevebald1 / website at: www.stevebaldwinphotography.co.uk

October

Water’s Edge by Lindsay Southgate ARPS

We landscape photographers love a battle with the weather don’t we? A recent week in the Lake District was accompanied by an awful lot of rain so I was delighted to get out one afternoon and capture this image at the edge of Derwentwater.

The clouds were scudding through quite fast giving some beautiful fleeting light on the hills. The water level in the lake was very high enabling me to make the most of the flooded banks in the composition. By using a long exposure I softened the water and the clouds a little in order to give the sense of calm I wanted to portray.

See more of Lindsay’s photography at: Instagram: lindsay.southgate and website: lindsaysouthgate.com

November

Moonrise over Sassalungo by Mark Gorman

Myself and two friends travelled to the Dolomites to shoot landscapes. This particular day we got the last cable car to the Alpe di Siusi, the largest high altitude Alpine meadow in Europe, and waited for sunset. As it meant a long walk back there were only a handful of photographers left after the last car departed and I set up on a ridge with the classic view looking at the peaks. As the sun dropped and the mountain began to glow, a tiny white speck appeared between the peaks and, with a collective intake of breath from everyone, the moon rose from behind the mountain between the peaks. It was an almost surreal couple of moments as there was a perfect balance of light with the fading sunset and the rising moon and the shot is a single exposure. The image is good but the experience was profound.

View more of Mark’s photography on Vero; https://vero.com/fotagraphics

December

Holme Wood, Peak District by Stephen Miles ARPS

I had seen some images from this little picturesque path down the side of a wood called Upper Moor, just outside Darley Dale in the Peak District so, with the very cold snap in early December, I headed off (in more of a lazy photographer’s way, not at the crack of dawn) but got there after most of the mist had left! The lane is 100m from the road and there are convenient parking points. Experimenting with a few angles in both directions, I had some ‘OK’ shots but then a dog walker with two hounds in tow appeared. This gave the image a focal point. 5 snaps when they were in the distance and here is the best shot: When the walker was closer it was too dominating in the frame, I felt.

View more of Stephen’s photography:-

Website: www.smilesphotography.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmilesPhotographyNottingham

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smiles_moleracing

Steve Baldwin LRPS - Overall Winner

Photography

– obsession or therapy? Or somewhere in between? Having photographed for many years, Steve fell in love with landscape photography in 2013 and is largely self-taught. In this article, he explains his approach to photography, how he deals with his colour-blindness and his fear of missing out!

A Winter’s Morning

Whilst I had been taking photographs for years, it wasn’t until 2013 that my relationship with landscape photography was cemented. I was out photographing the local marsh at sunrise when that eureka moment happened, when that first image that made me punch the air popped up on my camera’s LCD screen. My photography had come of age!

I still photograph that marsh regularly – it is only a 15 minute walk from home. I am an advocate of shooting locally and do so whenever I can. I do explore areas further afield with my camera but tend to do this on longer trips

away whenever possible and, even then, the vast majority of my photography is within the UK and Ireland, the latter mostly when visiting family. It seems that everyone in our family has become used to me sneaking out before dawn to capture the best light of the day.

My Landscape Photography

I am largely self-taught and, over the years, have spent many hours reading photography journals to improve my technique. I also believe that membership of a local camera club has helped develop my skills both in the field and whilst post-processing. When

I joined, I decided to immerse myself in club activities; no gain without pain as they say! More recently my processing skills were topped up by on-line training during the pandemic.

I consider myself rather oldschool, in that I try and replicate what I see and, although I like to add my own interpretation, I am not in the habit of embellishing images by adding features that were not present when the shutter was released. For me the reward comes from the chase, capturing an image when the conditions are right. For me a decent crop can help tell the story the way you want it told. I like to keep things simple.

I am red-green colour blind, which I find incredibly frustrating at times and so post-processing can be problematic. I do however love producing monochrome images, which can be a safe haven for me to work in. As well as converting from colour images, I produce monochrome work using a camera converted to infrared during those hours of harsh summer light. Photography for me lies some-

where between an obsession and a therapy. I have to balance FOMO, the fear of missing out, with the feeling of wellbeing whilst in the great outdoors with the camera. When the two come together I find it incredibly rewarding.

Over the years I have learnt some important lessons. Photography is not all about having the latest

equipment. Without good light no camera can make good photographs so get to know the camera you have and be prepared to get up and go out at unsociable times – the early bird gets the worm, after all! Also take photographs that you like, don’t try and make your images fit into boxes that others prescribe and try to interpret the scene you are photographing in your own way.

Top left: Springtime Woodland. Top right: Rest a while. Middle right: Frozen.

Bottom left: Watching the sunset. Bottom right: White Cliff Country.

Ellie Lilly

As photographers, we all have our own reasons for pursuing our craft and, for many, personal wellbeing is at the top of that list. In this article, Ellie Lilly explores just why photography can be so good for both our mental and physical health.

The benefits of being outdoors have long been known and especially of being outdoors and close to nature and the impact that this has on our well-being. Nature evokes positive emotions such as calmness, joy and creativity.

Physically too, of course, fresh air is beneficial for our lungs if we are able to walk; this not only strengthens our leg muscles but also has great cardio benefits. But merely being outdoors in green spaces, open spaces or near the sea, also has an impact; the fresh air boosts our mood, lowers blood pressure and can even aid digestion. Furthermore, being outdoors helps to raise oxygen levels in the brain, which in turn raises serotonin levels (the neurotransmitter which alters our

mood), improving our mental health and lowering depression and anxiety.

Positive news for us landscape photographers then; photography is good for our physical and mental health. Additionally, it is an opportunity to slow down, take a break from social media and the chaos of daily life. Others too are able to gain benefits from the pictures we produce. Scientists have found that just looking at a photo of something from the natural world can relieve stress! (Brown, Barton and Gladwell 2013).

If you experience anxiety and depression however, it can be difficult to make those first steps into getting out and about with your camera. Some ways to

help make this easier may be to join a camera club or a meet-up group to go out with others. This can help because it gives you a set date to go out, as well as encouragement.

Landscape photography and sharing the time taking images with others fits easily into the five pillars of well-being: Connecting with others on a common interest; being physically active; learning and continuing to do so; giving and sharing and mindfulness in the moment.

If members wish to share their own stories of how photography helps them manage their depression or anxiety, please write in to landscapemagazine@rps.org.

Landscape Photography and Well-Being