“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer – and often the supreme disappointment.“
Ansel Adams – 1902-1984
At the outset of this post I want to state I am not a photographer, I am a novice at best (and this is overstating my proficiency). The reason I take photographs is not to post them all over the web or start a YouTube channel offering advice. The reason I took to the camera was to slow down my trips and appreciate the stunning views all around me. For years I would apply an ingrained military mentality of getting from Checkpoint A to Checkpoint B as quickly as I could. Often spending much of my trip looking at the ground wondering how many more steps to go before I could sit down and have brew. Granted, I no longer travel the distances I used to (I am also 50 years old), but the experience has become far more gratifying, by simply taking time to capture the landscape.
It is well established that the finest scenes are captured at Sunset and Sunrise (The Golden Hour), a somewhat unsociable time to get established on a peak. You are either ascending or descending in the dark which can be extremely daunting to those new to navigation and generally ill-advised. My trips generally involve at least 2 nights in a tent, allowing me the luxury of establishing a shot with plenty of time to spare, not to mention the added bonus of getting away from the rat-race for a few days.
As somebody extremely new to photography there were a few things I was ill prepared for, one being the cost of equipment and two being the sheer weight of this stuff in addition to the standard equipment I always carry. Although not an advocate of second hand equipment, photography is somewhat different. Generally, most of the equipment you buy second hand is extremely well looked after (I treat my lenses like newborn babies when carrying them on the hill) and more importantly the sheer cost of good equipment brand new is extremely prohibitive when you first build a typical rig.
To take a halfway decent shot of a landscape you are going to need a camera body, a wide angle lens (16mm-35mm), mid range lens (28mm-70mm), filters/filter mounting kit (various ND), spare batteries, tripod and a decent cleaning kit. Not to mention subscription fees for post processing software. My current equipment RRP is around £6K (get it insured) and consists of a Canon EOS -R, Canon RF 28-70 F2 L USM Lens (I ditched my Wide Angle Lens based on the combined weight of the two), Polar Pro Filter System, 3 Legged Thing Carbon Tripod, Spare Batteries x 3 and GPS attachment for the camera. It weighs around 5K (the lens weighs almost 3KG) in total so a huge addition to your pack not to mention a significant financial investment.
When it comes to planning a shoot, besides the physical location you choose there two significant factors to consider. The weather and the time of year you plan to make your trip. The Golden Hour changes through the season, as does the direction of the sun, these are important considerations in establishing whether you are going to get the results that you are aiming for when you are sat in the Lounge pouring over a map. PhotoPill is a great app that can help you in this respect and will provide an inordinate amount of information based on the co-ordinates of the shot you are planning. There is a bit of a learning curve finding your way around it, but well worth the effort. Secondly weather is a key consideration. Without the light, or weather effect you are trying to capture you are in for a fairly fruitless trip. That being said, mountain climate is extremely changeable, there is always hope you are going to capture that illusive cloud inversion or the Northern Lights.
I am not going to tell you how to take photo’s – I’m simply not qualified to advise in this respect. I will say that enjoy the learning process, read lots of books and buy a decent manual for your camera. I can highly recommend From Dawn to Dusk and Nick Livesy’s Photographing The Snowdonia Mountains which are excellent reference guides. YouTube is also a great resource and I would highly recommend Thomas Heaton’s channel (entertaining and some beautiful locations and images to give you ideas.
Stay Safe & Happy Hiking.
Mark
Lost In Space 