Light in the Landscape - A Photographers Year
I have been reading one of my Christmas Presents: Light in the Landscape - A Photographers Year by Peter Watson and very good it is too.
I must warn those of a nervous disposition that the book is a few years old now and all the shots were taken on film. The past, as they say, is a different country...they do things differently there. But amazingly the constant use of words like "Velvia" do not detract from the book.
What I liked about it, was that it talks about the ups and downs of getting the shot in a way that I completely recognise. Not just the usual comments you find in Landscape togs books about pre-visualising the scene and waiting a week for the light to be right.
In this book Peter admits making mistakes, not being completely happy with compositions and even racing up and down the side of a loch then clambering over a load of brambles in an attempt to catch the light at the end of the day. Some times he lucks out & gets 2 good shots within 20 minutes of each other, other times he gets a shot but is not completely happy with it. This is more like the landscape photography I recognise.
The book works through a year of photographs week by week. Each photo is accompanied by a description and some technical information about it. I feel I will keep this on my bookshelf to give me something to look at when I am wondering what to photograph.
I must warn those of a nervous disposition that the book is a few years old now and all the shots were taken on film. The past, as they say, is a different country...they do things differently there. But amazingly the constant use of words like "Velvia" do not detract from the book.
What I liked about it, was that it talks about the ups and downs of getting the shot in a way that I completely recognise. Not just the usual comments you find in Landscape togs books about pre-visualising the scene and waiting a week for the light to be right.
In this book Peter admits making mistakes, not being completely happy with compositions and even racing up and down the side of a loch then clambering over a load of brambles in an attempt to catch the light at the end of the day. Some times he lucks out & gets 2 good shots within 20 minutes of each other, other times he gets a shot but is not completely happy with it. This is more like the landscape photography I recognise.
The book works through a year of photographs week by week. Each photo is accompanied by a description and some technical information about it. I feel I will keep this on my bookshelf to give me something to look at when I am wondering what to photograph.
posted by Chris Shepherd at
08:00
4 Comments
Links to this post
