Why do I make images of the landscape? It’s a question I have asked myself more and more as of late. I have enjoyed being in the great outdoors all my life, but I only picked up a camera in January 2018. At the time I had no idea why I did this, and it is only recently that I have started to understand.
I learned quickly in the early days, through a combination of YouTube and getting out and practicing. I really enjoyed it. It took me to new places, and I have some special memories and nice images from those times. I was following the rules, hitting the honeypot locations hard and making images to fuel a desire of people to think I was a great photographer, to be recognised by peers. I am still proud to share a lot of those images, but they don’t do much for me on a personal level.
Social media platforms can act as a ‘hollow echo chamber’ (as Ben Horne writes in With Patience comes Good Light). I got good at the ‘paint by numbers’ landscapes, but as good or popular as these images were, they never fulfilled me. I started becoming formulaic in my processes which actually started to make me less excited about going out. Chasing success leads to mediocre work.
“Shallow motivation runs out” – Alister Benn
This isn’t easy to say, but, I have always felt a massive amount of loneliness throughout my life; feeling like an outsider in everything I’ve ever done. As an only child and learned very quickly to endure my own company. I think I turned to photography as this was something I could do on my own, gave me purpose to being in the landscape and gave me an excuse to travel to amazing places, even if I had no one to go with. However, being out in the landscape only seemed to intensify the sense of loneliness, so why do I do it? At the time it was to make the same images as other photographers, for instant gratification.
“I spend most of my time alone, without anybody to share these experiences with, whilst this can often benefit me from a landscape photography point of view, it can also leave me feeling a little bit empty and a bit lonely” – Thomas Heaton
So, I decided to embrace the loneliness and vast emptiness of the landscape. Make it part of my work. If that’s what I felt so strongly in the landscape then that’s what I will pour into my photography, giving it meaning beyond that of taking easy shots of familiar compositions. I think I have always been looking externally to the grand landscape for answers or meaning, but I now understand that finding personal shots and internalising the process will help me find more about myself. Photography has to be something more than simply capturing images that are pleasing to look at, it’s about the lasting emotion that lives within them, even if it’s only me that can feel that emotion.
“In order to achieve an emotion through composition it requires a deeper understanding and connection with the landscape and the subjects you’re trying to capture” – Simon Baxter
Looking back at my favourite shots, they all do portray a sense of loneliness and vast emptiness which I now know is how I connect with the landscape. I first realised this when I made the image ‘Breathe’ (below) back in October 2019. You can quickly see how I was attracted the vast negative space, the sense of isolation and a hint of the grand landscape peeking through as the ridge line at the top of the frame. This image is everything I want to represent in my work. It is by no means my ‘most popular’ image in terms of social media praise, which is probably a good sign that I am now doing the right thing. When I look back at my favourite images, they all do have a strong sense of negative space, a lonely subject or just a vast emptiness. This is how I feel, it is who I am and is how I feel connected to the landscape.
However, I won’t be going out solely to make images of landscapes with a new set of rules imposed upon myself such as: ‘I will always incorporate a lot of negative space’ or ‘I will now only shoot lonely-looking subjects.’ I will be going out with no expectations and trying to capture my sense of loneliness in the landscape, through whatever composition I connect with.
Put yourself into your art. That’s exactly what I intend to make happen, not one day, but now. The landscape is a vast and lonely place to me, and that’s fine. It’s time to turn the satnav off, follow my instincts and connect with the vast emptiness. I want to express my emotions through the landscape. Maybe I’ll learn something about myself. It is time to be me.
Thank you for reading,
James
Breathe