More new horizons
One thing that has always struck me is how much of the imagery that features in photography magazines is landscape photography. Stunning shots of mother nature at her most awesome. Good landscape photography always impresses photographers and non-photographers alike, and so it’s a pretty safe bet with magazine editors, I imagine. It’s just so pretty, isn’t it?
I’ve never really tried my hand at it, so of course I dismissed it as easy. With that particular strain of naive arrogance that only ignorance seems capable of, I just assumed that it wasn’t that difficult. You know, a bit of patience and an alarm clock, a filter or two, chuck in a sunset and you’re off.
So this week I decided to see what all the fuss is about. I’ve been running around trying to find the perfect spot, and you know? It’s hard to find those perfect spots. I’ve found a couple of ‘alright’ vantage points, but nothing stupendous. I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession with the sky and with light. I mean, I’m always looking at the light, but this is light-obsession on a whole new level. I now know what time sunset actually is, and am working out the best window either side of it. I even woke up before the crack of dawn one particularly wet and miserable morning and promptly swore never again. I’m more a sunset sort of girl, I’ve decided. Even if this was the week that every sunset occurred behind a huge wall of clouds.
And guess what I’ve discovered? That it’s not easy. Of course it’s not. Not easy at all. I managed to get a couple of alright shots, but nothing that’s going to make any magazine editor wet themselves in the immediate future. In fact, the main thing I’ve discovered this week is that I have a previously untapped lust for wide-angle lenses. And that I quite like landscape photography.
Now…I’m off to write a letter to Santa…
