Summer 2021
At the end of July 2021 I embarked upon a summer trip to Scotland. The main goal of this trip was to camp by the sea with a friend and just depressurise from what has been a horrific start to the year. I really struggled with the second UK lockdown in January and February this year, compiled with the stresses of working during the pandemic after the restrictions were eased. It hasn’t been all too fun. I imagine many of you reading this have felt the same way.
So a coastal camping trip to Scotland was just what was needed. I didn’t take much with me at all, but I chose not to leave my camera at home. Due to the fact I hadn’t made this a dedicated photography trip there was no pressure to make images, not that there should be anyway. So I felt more free and relaxed; my photography benefited greatly from this and I came home with a body of work I am immensely proud of. You can see the full collection here.
Apart
Summer has a bad reputation… why?
I have seen many photographers, particularly in the UK, lament the summer months: the early sunrises, the late sunsets, every thing is green and overgrown etc. - these are common complaints. While I understand these concerns, I am lucky that my style (more on this later) does not particularly rely on these common prerequisite conditions a lot wish for. I actually take a lot of my images (not all, as you will know if you have seen the recent Summer 2021 collection) in the middle of the day. I would argue that the vast majority of what I consider to be my best work was taken in July and August. I implore landscape photographers to get out in the Summer months - I always make sure I take a camping trip every summer for this reason. Just work with the conditions you are given, leave any expectations you have at the door.
The photograph below Fission was taken two hours before sunset, the long evenings and low cloud provided wonderful conditions to make photographs of layered mountainsides. I didn’t head out that evening desperate for such light, but I reacted when it arose. There is always something wonderful happening in the summer months. You just have to be there and move with the landscape and conditions and don’t let any expectations you have dictate what you do.
Fission
Project or Style?
I’m not sure if you are aware, but I have only owned a camera since January 2018. If you are reading this and have been photographing for some time you will probably reflect on your first three years as a time of rapid progression, change and self-realisation. This is what I have experienced.
I am sometimes told by others that they like my ‘style’ - which is often categorised as calm, subtle, open etc. This is something I have not actively tried to create, but has evolved over my first three years as a photographer. Why it is has evolved this way, I am not sure. I will not be discussing my emotional connection to the landscape in this post, that’s a tome for another day! What I do know is that if I examine my favourite landscape images (my approach in woodland is somewhat different) there are common themes: calm, subtle and open. I didn’t particularly realise this until others started commenting on it.
I am drawn to compositions that seem to exude those aforementioned qualities. Also, a lot of it comes down to post-processing style. I have considered that my work doesn’t follow a style, rather a long-term project that has evolved naturally from my work, a project to capture the landscape in its most subtle and calm states. I only realised I was potentially working on a such a project when I started curating my favourite work in late 2020 and noticed all of my favourite landscape images had a similar feel (again, my woodland images are different). So, I decided I was unintentionally on a project, which I named Calm. The image Nazgul below epitomises this ‘project’ for me:
Nazgul
I actually discussed this Calm project idea with Matt Payne on a recording of his podcast F-Stop, Collaborate and Listen which is due to air later this year. The question still remains in my mind: is this a project, or is this actually a photographic style? Does it matter either way?
I am both proud and a little scared of having an recognisable style. I am proud because I haven’t forced it and have stayed true to what I connect with in the landscape. I am also very happy with my light-touch, subtle post-processing style - I don’t do a lot to the images. I am growing ever more fond of the eyewitness approach to landscape photography, wanting the landscape and conditions to do the talking. I have no issue with photographers who work their images a bit harder in post-processing - many of my favourite photographers do! It’s just that I don’t connect with the landscape with my photography in that way.
Just to a reminder, I am three years into my foray into landscape photography and these thoughts and musings may seem naive - I bet some of you reading this thought they had a style then all of a sudden started making wildly different photographs!
This is why I am a little scared of having a style - I am worried it may force me to pigeonhole myself and reduce my creativity when in the field. Although, one may argue that a reduction in creativity is just another way of saying having a focussed approach. At the moment, I am happy to go with this subtle, calm and open style or project, I like the direction it gives me.
So, project or style: does it matter? It’s easy to say “no, it doesn’t matter, make photographs of anything” - but I actually quite enjoy the focussed approach. In my mind, the difference between a project and a style is that a project has a definite end point, and a style continues. Would I be upset if this style continued for 20 years? I don’t think so. But again, I am only three years in.
As an experiment I actively tried to make something a little different on my recent trip. A lot of my favourite images have quite a low contrast, high-key look to them, so I sought to achieve something a bit different, producing the image Dark Mirror below, where I’ve even let parts of the landscape fall in to deep silhouette (this was done during the exposure, not the post-processing). However, I have been told this image, despite having more contrast than much of my other work, does still feel like one of my images… so maybe I do have a style? Is a style more than a look? Is it even tangible?
Dark Mirror
Just to pre-warn you, I don’t think I will be arriving at a conclusion as to whether I am completing a long-term project, or if I just have a style. If you forced me to choose, I would like to have a consistent style that one may recognise. It all boils down to how I want to see my photography build in the future. My long-term goal in landscape photography is to build a body of work over decades. A legacy I can look back on that others may enjoy and recognise.
“Follow your own path”
The question remains, do I have to maintain a consistent style to achieve this, to keep following my own path? Possibly. Possibly not. Am I being naive again? Does it even matter? Maybe. Maybe not. Either way, I feel good about where my photography is going and I have finally realised I have direction now. I have no idea where this direction will lead me, but I strongly believe that to find something new you first have to get lost.
Lost
Thank you very much for reading,
James