The Great Wilderness by Alex Nail - On My Bookshelf S06E04
In this episode of On My Bookshelf I look at @alexnails latest self-published book, The Great Wilderness. This luxury hardback photography book covers one of Scotland's most remote regions and features images captured over a 4-year period from the Letterewe, Fisherfield and Dundonnell mountain areas.
A Masterpiece of Photography and Book Design
Over the 40 plus episodes of On My Bookshelf that I’ve made, I’ve featured books covering all sorts of genres and styles of photography. For the most part, they all have something that I like and that’s great photographs. However, every now and again I buy a book that I love. So, what separates a book with great photographs from a book that I love? Presentation!
How the photographs are printed, sequenced, and bound in a book can make all the difference on how even great photographs are experienced. If you want to look at a photographers great photographs you can do it on their website, but when you buy their book that experience should be a vastly superior.
Two of my favourite books, Beara and Kingdom (both my Norman McCloskey) are a great example of how to turn a collection of great photographs into a viewing experience to be savoured.
Another photographer that seems to be mastering this art is Alex Nail. His previous title, Northwest, was fantastic. It turned out to be one of my favourite landscape photography books.
When Alex announced pre-orders for his latest book, The Great Wilderness, I couldn’t give him my money fast enough. Alex had been hinting at the design choices he had been making for this book and it sounded like his attention to detail was going to be like no other book I would have on my bookshelf.
Now that I have the book, did Alex manage to deliver on both the photographs and the book design? Let’s find out!
You can pick up a copy of The Great Wilderness directly from Alex at https://www.alexnail.com/great-wilderness-book/
Glencoe - One Location, 3 Compositions
It’s almost impossible to drive through Glencoe and not want to stop to take some landscape photographs. In the blog this week I make an unscheduled stop in Glencoe and take 3 photographs from one location.
Glencoe
There are some locations for landscape photographers that are virtually impossible to drive through without stopping to take a photograph. In my mind, Glencoe is one such location. It is stunningly beautiful and impressive no matter the weather. I still have many happy memories of my last visit.
Check out this video of my last visit to Glencoe.
A few weeks ago I was heading up to Harris & Lewis for a week-long photography trip. With such an amazing destination one could be forgiven for trying to get there as soon as possible. However, when your route takes you through the heart of Glencoe there was no way I wasn’t going to take at least one photograph.
Fortunately for me, my journey from Devon would allow me to arrive in Glencoe for around sunset. With so many locations to pick from in Glencoe, what would I photograph?
Stob nan Cabar and Lochan na Fola
I first discovered the beauty of this location on a workshop I attended last year. Despite its grandeur, it’s not that well photographed and can be easily missed despite its roadside location. As I photographed it at dawn last time, I thought I would try it at dusk this time.
I wasn’t feeling any pressure to take an image so I spent a little more time experimenting with my composition. While I would normally only post one image from a location, I thought it would be interesting to show you the three variations I have.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Vertical), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, 0.8 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND Grad.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Landscape), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 18 mm, 1.0 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser, ND Grad.
Stob nan Cabar from Lochan na Fola (Panoramic), Glencoe, Scotland - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, 0.8 seconds at ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser. 8 Image panoramic stitch, cropped to 6:17.
All three images benefit from the beautiful autumnal colours of the ground, and just the right amount of cloud cover to get some light reflected from the setting sun. While I do like all three, I think it is perhaps the first image I prefer the most. Though this scene would typically be shot in landscape orientation, the portrait orientation of the first image works well.
There are a couple of things I like about the first image. First of all the reflection is larger, and clearer giving it more impact. I also like all the triangles in the image. There is, of course, the mountain and its reflection, but also from the cloud in the top right of the image which leads you back to the mountain.
It was a long drive from Devon to get to Glencoe so I only had time to shoot this one location, but what a location. It was unfortunately dark when I drove back through Glencoe, but even this brief opportunity to photograph it again means its right up near the top of my list of locations to photograph again.
So which image composition did you like best? What is your favourite Glencoe location to photograph? Let me know in the comments below.
P.S. Harris & Lewis
Oh, that Harris & Lewis trip I mentioned at the start of this blog…well…I hope to have a blog and video posted right here in a couple of weeks time.
Wild Camping in Wales
Can you combine landscape photography with wild camping? That's the question I wanted to answer when I asked fellow photographer and experienced wild camper Gareth Danks to take me on my first wild camp. Read the blog to find out how I got on!
What's Wild Camping
Until recently I hadn't heard of wild camping. Obviously, I'd heard of camping but I'll be honest with you, it never really appealed to me. I like a nice warm bed and a full cooked breakfast if I have to stay away from home!
Gareth Danks - photographer, wild camper and all round great guy.
One of the great things about having my YouTube channel is the number of different people I have connected with. One such person is Gareth Danks and he is super keen on wild camping. Through watching his videos I saw that wild camping is more than just pitching your tent on a windy campsite.
As I watched through his videos I started to see the appeal of wild camping. Changes in camera and tent technology now meant you were able to take all the gear required to take photographs and get a good nights sleep. While I'm no stranger to an early morning, there are some locations that just aren't practical to reach before sunrise. However, by camping on location, you could be in the right place the night before.
Wonderful Wales
When Gareth finally talked me into wild camping all we had to do was agree on a location. Pen y Fan has always been a location I'd wanted to photograph and given that Gareth had both experience of camping and photographing there, it seemed like a great place for my first wild camp. We put a plan together, picked a date, and hoped for good weather.
If you want to see how I got on in my wild camping adventure then check out the video I made below:
And here is Gareth’s video:
More Wild Camping?
So would I go wild camping again? Absolutely I would! OK, the weather wasn't great for photography, but I had such a good time camping. I was really impressed by modern camping equipment. It was surprisingly easy to put up the tent (under guidance from Gareth of course), it was comfortable, warm, and it was even possible to make a great cup of coffee. OK, it's not as a good as a nice B&B, but it has the benefit of being much more flexible.
I don't think I'm ready for a wild camp in the winter, but I sure I'll be giving it another go next spring.
So have you been wild camping before? Do you remember the first time you did it? Would you like to give it a try? Let me know in the comments below.
The Photographs
Here are the photographs from the video:
Creeping Clouds over Cribyn - Pen y Fan, Brecon Beacons, Wales: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 34 mm, 1/80th sec at ISO 64, f/8.
Cefn Cwm Llwch Mountain Path - Pen y Fan, Brecon Beacons, Wales: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 34 mm, 1/80th sec at ISO 64, f/8.
There You Are Cribyn - Pen y Fan, Brecon Beacons, Wales: Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 VR at 34 mm, 1/80th sec at ISO 64, f/8.