p.2 #1 · THE SHOT - documentary about a landscape photographer
snapsy wrote:
Roman, great comments, thanks. I feel the same connection when I first arrive to a scene but find it difficult to sustain that spirit if I'm having to wait long periods for the lighting to be just right. I usually spend my downtime finding subsets of the scene to focus on and shoot. How do you deal with the potential downtime?
See quote about ""asking the universe" for favorable weather conditions".
Most of the time I am hurrying around trying to get to all the compositions my connection guides me to before the light is gone.
I usually avoid hard light hours, and those times are spent exploring and connecting. I guess others call it scouting?
The more connected you are, the less you are waiting for things to happen.
Let me put it this way...if your experiencing down time...your not there for the connection and experience more than you are there for the photography.
There should ALWAYS be plenty to do see and experience. The photographs will come.
p.2 #2 · THE SHOT - documentary about a landscape photographer
Good stuff. The idea of taking gear off and sitting is, in my experience, very important. As an example, last summer I spent something like three days at one somewhat remote Sierra Nevada lake doing photography with friends. On the first evening we were there I made no photographs (aside from a couple of nothing shots), but instead I walked the quiet shore of the lake.
Quite often - though not always, since circumstances vary - if you encountered me arriving in a place to do landscape photography, you might notice that I don't have my camera out and on my tripod. Instead, you might see me slowly ambling/wandering around and just looking.
One of the most important lessons I learned about being in the wild world was that it sometimes is not necessary to "do" anything. Sometimes simply being is the point. I've been known to sit on a mountain pass for a few hours, or spend an entire evening looking at a lake.
On the other hand, sometimes things happen tremendously quickly in landscape photography, and I feel like there is a deep and mysterious connection in being part of that almost instinctive flow, too.
Take care,
Dan
roman.johnston wrote:
My primary objective is to go out and enjoy the landscape. My goal is re-charging and connection with the land. Photography, is (while strong) secondary. Photography is part of my connection, but it never takes over the connection....as I know that is what allows my shots to carry the emotion and energy of the places I visit.
When I arrive to a location I want to visit, often I will take all my gear off, and just sit for a bit and take in the energy of the place, give appreciation for even the simple joy of being allowed to be there....thank the universe for even having the potential for such an experience.
I guess it is a lot like a hunter giving reverent thanks to the spirit of the animal they just hunted. If you recognize your part of the energy that IS the place your visiting, you begin to feel part of it. This opens my mind to ideas of how to tell it's story. Where to go. Instincts then often take a stronger role in walking and exploring than though processes. Discovery is more like a child seeing something for the first time than a clumsy thought process.
Because of my home situation, I do not get out nearly as much as I would like to. But even that ends up being part of this. I plan for a visit somewhere, and start "asking the universe" for favorable weather conditions. My spiritual values tell me I am connected with everything and that a respectful request will always be heard. Last time I went to the Japanese Gardens, both time rewarded me with amazing fog and atmospheric conditions. I go on outings and things just click. I trust the universe to give me everything I need to create images that reflect well on where I am going.....and such conditions just add to my experience, which compounds my connection....compounding my success rate of getting some good captures.
Its a very intuitive process. You have to truly believe in your connection, and interact with that connection with your world.
Maybe I am just weird like that, not sure how others connect with their world, I just know how I do.
p.2 #3 · THE SHOT - documentary about a landscape photographer
Great topic and really nice video. Lots I can identify with in both. I knew it all along, but I still feel vindicated when I see how others experience the same thing I do: long drives, hiking with heavy equipment packs, anxious to get some real "award winners", and coming back with a few snaps that I take sometimes just for the sake of taking them, because the conditions were off, or perhaps my frame of mind was "off." Still though, I always come back refreshed and glad I made the trip. And I definitely fall into the camp that prefers being alone, or with another photographer, as taking a two mile hike that lasts most of the day because I'm waiting on conditions or setting up and composing, while enjoyable to me, is deathly boring to some. And I don't like to be rushed.
