Talking Pictures
A few years ago, I used to have the time to display presentations to various camera clubs in Scotland. I remember people’s expressions and interest levels during my picture curation. You see, the idea was to present them with a variety of my images and talk about them; the location where an image was captured, the time of day and year, my emotions at the time, what interested and inspired me about the location, why I chose the settings I did, and a myriad of various reasons that led to the final capture.
Landscape photography, to me anyway, is not a way of harvesting ‘likes’ and pats on the back. I have no time for this because it does not make me feel fulfilled as a photographer, which is why my personal presence on social media is very limited. Travelling around, snapping pictures and ticking boxes does not make me happy either. What makes me happy is spending time on location, appreciating nature, feeling the breeze in my face, smelling the sea air and absorbing the crisp, early morning winter air.
When I run my photo tours, I consciously used to visit only two or three locations each day, allowing plenty of time for each one for exactly the same reason. I wanted to encourage my participants to feel this appreciation, feel inspired and, eventually, capture a picture that they would be proud of.
Curating
During these camera club presentations, I used to curate around my images. But how can you do so unless you have spent plenty of time at a location, become familiar with it and been truly inspired by it? I hear people talking about being late to a location and hardly having enough time to capture the picture. Well, for me anyway, landscape photography does not work like that. To produce a good picture you need to be able to talk about it, and to do so you need to take the time to understand the subject.
All of you who have participated in the popular LPM monthly assignments know that we ask for your pictures to be accompanied by short stories – and a few people over the years have asked me why. The answer is simple: to encourage people to think about how and why they took a picture, explain their feelings during the time of capture and, through their words, transport our readers to that moment.
If we only wish to showcase our images, social media is awash with pages and groups where we can do so — and some of them do this very successfully, I might add. However, that was never what I intended the purpose of this magazine to be. LPM’s very ethos was built upon a desire to enable our readers to think more deeply, participate and continue improving. That is still my aim today.
What is the point in capturing landscape pictures if we do not take the time to appreciate and respect the landscape? What is the point if we only leave a location with an image and not memories? What is the point if we see the landscape only through the viewfinder of the camera?
To really appreciate and respect the landscape, we first need to feel it, listen to it and use all our senses to grasp every second we spend in it. The best pictures are the ones that tell a story – and we, the photographers, are the only people who can make our images come alive in that way for others.
So, the next time you visit a location, take a bit more time to enjoy what the landscape has to offer.
