Bear Island

RICHARD BURDON AFIAP

As photographers I am sure that we all spend time agonizing over where we are and where we wish to be with our photography. I know I have been doing this a lot of late, as I find myself more and more drawn to subtle images and far less inclined to shoot bold saturated images.

And so it was when I visited Bear Island on a trip to East Greenland in the late summer of 2018. I had heard that the rock formations would be interesting so I had in mind an image with a bold foreground, but I just couldn’t find a composition that worked to my satisfaction. I decided to move to a different location, however as I packed up my tripod the sunrise suddenly lit up the mountains beautifully. I rushed back to the water’s edge, hurriedly set up, and shot a few frames before the light faded, but I came away with an overwhelming feeling of disappointment.

The irony is that this has proved to be a very popular image, but I have no love for it, only a feeling of an opportunity missed. Maybe I am being too hard on myself, but for me this image feels rushed and generic and lacks compositional input - there’s no feeling of personal connection. www.rjbphotographic.co.uk

Fortunately, I did do some more scouting for locations and the light made a comeback, so I was able to come away with an image that I was happy with after all, but I still can’t love the original image.