6 AMAZING Landscape Photography Books to Inspire Your Photography
Looking for a little inspiration for you landscape photography? Here are six amazing books on landscape photography that are sure to inspire your photography.
A Chance to Review What is On My Bookshelf
Over the last couple of months, I’ve had the chance to spend a lot time with my collection of photography books. While I would have much preferred to be out and about with my camera, getting the chance to look at some of my favourite photography books again is far from a waste of time.
Even on the second read, or in some cases third or fourth, I can still find inspiration and knowledge for my landscape photography in these books. This normally indicates that there is something special about them.
As I suspect I might not be the only person with a little more home time on their hands at the moment, I thought I might compile a list of my six favourite books on landscape photography and share it with you.
All the books in this list have already featured in episodes of On My Bookshelf (OMBS) so there’s a video to go with each of my recommendations.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any of the books. Happy browsing!
Beara by Norman McLoskey
Read the original blog post for this episode of OMBS here.
The Landscape by Paul Wakefield
Read the original blog post for this episode of OMBS here.
Tides and Tempests by Rachael Talibart
Read the original blog post for this episode of OMBS here.
Mystical by Neil Burnell
Read the original blog post for this episode of OMBS here.
Northwest by Alex Nail and Scotland’s Finest Mountains by Colin Prior
Read the original blog post for this episode of OMBS here.
In The Footsteps of Colin Prior
Inspired by the landscape photographs I've seen in Colin Prior's book, Scotland's Finest Landscapes, I head to Loch Clair in Torridon to capture my own photographs of this stunning location. With only a few hours and typically Scottish weather, photography was always going to be a challenge!
Being Inspired
Inspiration for my photography comes from many different sources. Like most photographers, I look at a lot of photographs online using services such as Instagram and Flickr. For me though, one of the best sources of inspiration is the humble book. The bookshelf in my office is ever-expanding and I take a lot of joy in sharing my passion for photography books in my YouTube series, On My Bookshelf.
Last year I picked up a copy of Colin Prior's book, Scotland's Finest Landscapes and I thought it was amazing. I even did an episode of On My Bookshelf so if you want to hear my thoughts on this book in a bit more detail then click here. Even though I grew up in Scotland, and lived many of my adult years there, much of Scotland remains unexplored for me. Colin's book opened my eyes up to some of the amazing locations in Scotland and the photographic opportunities these wild locations could bring.
An Adventure to Scotland
As I browsed Colin's book I made note of all the places I would like to visit to capture my own photographs. The list was long! There aren't many negatives to living in Devon, but its distance from Scotland is definitely one of them. Trips back to the homeland are rare so if I was to tick off one of those locations from the list I would have to pick carefully and integrate it into whatever I was doing in Scotland on my next visit.
Fortunately for me, I had booked myself onto a photography workshop on the Isle of Skye with my workshop company of choice Dawn 2 Dusk Photography. The last time I went on a D2D workshop was Glencoe and I had an absolute blast. You can read about that adventure here. My trip to Skye was the perfect opportunity to spend a little extra time in the Highlands and visit one of the locations I saw in the book that had inspired me.
The Weather
As I was going to Skye I thought that one of the best areas I could visit was Torridon, an area of Scotland that I had not visited before. The images I saw in the book looked amazing and I was excited about capturing my own. I narrowed down the list and got ready for my trip to Scotland.
Arriving in Scotland I already knew that the weather wasn't going to be great and with only limited time before the workshop, I was going to have to work with what I had. What I really wanted to do was walk up one of the mountains to capture an epic vista but this was always going to be a bit of a challenge. Though I've bagged a few Munro's in my time, but these have mostly been fair-weather adventures. The weather forecast for the mountains when I was up was terrible. Way above my skill level!
Fortunately for me though, I had considered that the mountains might be inaccessible to me and I'd picked a few low-level locations as a backup. The night before I was due to head out I looked at my list and decided on Loch Clair near Liathach and Beinn Eighe. Would the low-level weather be kind to me? Would I get the opportunity to capture some amazing landscape photographs? Let's find out in my latest video, In The Footsteps of Colin Prior.
Landscape Photography Can be Hard
As you will have seen in the video, it was a challenging day. The weather conditions were variable, to say the least. It could be lashing with rain one minute, then you'd get howling winds, and then all of a sudden it would clear up. Typically Scottish really! There was no chance of reflections on the loch and I never saw the top of the mountains until I was finished for the day. While I knew the weather wasn't going to be great that day, I was hoping that it would break long enough to give me some dramatic light on the landscape.
Unfortunately, this never happened. While I did witness some amazing scenes such as incoming rain showers, crepuscular rays and rainbows, they were never really in the spots where I could have put them to good use in a composition. Despite the challenges of the photography I had a great time at Loch Clair. Yes it was cold, wet and windy at times but I had good clothing on so I was able to enjoy the wilderness and all it brings. I had a lot of time to look at the landscape while the weather was too wild to get the camera out and it looked amazing. It was just a pleasure to sit there and take it all in.
It was definitely a case of the adventure being more rewarding than the photography but I'm OK with that. Landscape photography can be hard but my love for the outdoors always means that I never consider my time wasted.
I do hope you have enjoyed this blog post and video. Who inspires your photography? Have you ever followed in the footsteps of one of your favourite photographers? Let me know in the comments below.
The Photographs
If you want to see the photographs from the video in a bit more detail you can see them below. They were all taken with the Panasonic Lumix S1R. Panasonic was kind enough to lend me this camera (and two lenses) to help me make this video. I have to say that the camera performed faultlessly despite the wild and wet conditions. I'm not planning on doing a full review of the camera but you can read some of my thoughts in this blog post.
Loch Clair Tree, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 15 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Liathach from Loch Clair, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 1/10th sec at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Loch Clair, Sgurr Dubh and Liathach, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 26mm, f/13, 1/15th sec at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Loch Clair, Liathach and Beinn Eighe, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 40 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Single image crop at 6:17
Loch Clair, Liathach and Beinn Eighe, Torridon, Scotland - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 1/5th second at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL.
Colin Prior’s Scotland’s Finest Landscapes & Alex Nail’s Northwest – On My Bookshelf S02E01
Colin Prior or Alex Nail? In this special episode of On My Bookshelf, I look at Colin Prior's Scotland's Finest Landscapes and Alex Nail's Northwest. Which one, if any, should you buy?
Landscape Photography Books
I love a good photography book. Over the years they have inspired and influenced my photography in no small way. As I become a better photographer I actually find myself buying more photography books. This is particularly true during the winter months when I can't get out with the camera as much as I'd possibly like.
Last month, as the festive period approached, the discussion around what I'd like for Christmas came up in conversation. While options such as a new Nikon Z7 or a two week photography holiday to the Faroe Islands were quickly dismissed, a more sensible option of getting a good landscape photography book was decided.
Colin Prior or Alex Nail
There were two books high up on my list to get. These were Colin Prior's Scotland's Finest Landscapes, and Alex Nail's Northwest. Given that Colin's book was originally selling for £100, I decided that asking for Alex's book at £36 would be much more sensible.
With that all sorted I just needed to wait for Santa to deliver my copy of Northwest. During the run up to Christmas though I spotted a post on Facebook by Colin Prior who was doing a Black Friday sale and that his book Scotland's Finest Landscapes was on sale for £50. This is still a lot of money for a book, but I've wanted to own a copy of this book for some time now, so I decided to treat myself!
On My Bookshelf
As regular readers of this blog know I have series of videos on my YouTube channel called On My Bookshelf. After reading Colin and Alex's books over the festive period I thought I would share my thoughts on both books. However, rather than do separate videos for each book, I thought I would produce one episode of On My Bookshelf that looked at both books.
Both titles are on similar themes and areas of landscape photography, and neither title is inexpensive, so I thought it would be useful to look at them both in the same episode. So which one should be on your bookshelf? Let's find out.
I really hope you enjoyed this episode of On My Bookshelf. Both these books are some of the finest books on Scottish landscape photography I have and it was a joy being able to read both of them.
Do you own either of these titles? Will you now buy either of these books? Let me know in the comments below.
Practising The Craft of Photography
In this blog post I discuss the value of practicing photography, no matter the weather forecast.
Starting Out
When you first start out in photography it's very easy to think that you should be capturing an award winning photograph every time you go out with a camera. After all, you read lots of magazines and books on the subject and they are full of wonderful and inspiring images. So it must follow that these published photographers must always take a great image every time they go out with the camera.
This is a perception that I had for a long time and it often had a negative impact on my photography as I felt I should be capturing a quality image each and every time I went out. One day though I was watching a documentary about Colin Prior the renowned landscape photographer. In the film we saw some of the challenges he went through the get an image that would realise his vision. It did in fact take him several days camped up on a mountain range to finally get that image.
Learning A Lesson
From this I learnt that even the most seasoned of landscape photographers don't just go out there and take 5 star images on every shoot. There is also a lot of failure and patience. This was a valuable lesson and from this I decided to reevaluate how I approached a landscape shoot. I am lucky, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, in that I don't need to earn my living from photography. There is therefore little pressure for me to return home from a shoot with an image that I can sell. This means that I can almost put the photography bit to the side and just enjoy being outdoors. Returning with an wonderful image almost becomes a bonus or a by-product of my adventures.
Practise, Practise, Practise
This all leads me on to the real topic of this blog post and the concept of practising photography. Without the pressure (implied or real) of having to get an amazing image, I use my time outdoors to not only enjoy the landscape but to practise my craft. As with any skill it takes practice and repetition. If I only took my camera out when the conditions were absolutely perfect would I be able to capture an image when I really needed to? Would I remember how and where to focus? Would I remember to check my ISO settings?
The forecast conditions were never going to produce an award winning image, but having time with the camera was invaluable
When the moment comes, and it can be rare, I want to be prepared and know what I'm doing. So I practise. I go out, even when the conditions might not be perfect. I enjoy being outside and I enjoy setting up the camera, looking at compositions and taking pictures, even if the end result is an average image. At least I've practised my craft and I will be better prepared for that magic moment, which can come anytime, and sometimes when you least expect it.
John Free made an excellent video on practising street photography and I strongly suggest you watch it (as the lessons still apply to landscape photography).
And after that, well, get out with your camera and practise. Don't worry that's not an award winning image but be satisfied that you got outside and you still remember how to use your camera.
Do you practise your photography? Do you still come home from an unsuccessful shoot feeling satisfied? Let me know in the comments below.
Till next time….