Practising Landscape Photography and Risk vs Reward
Is there value in practising your landscape photography? Do you consider risk vs reward? In the blog this week, I head to Belstone on Dartmoor National Park to capture some landscape photographs and to answer those questions.
The Value of Practising Landscape Photography
In the blog last week I spoke about the need to practise landscape photography. That trip to Dawlish Warren beach was my first trip out to capture landscape photographs in over a month. I certainly felt a little rusty so I was keen to keep the momentum going so I decided to head out again as soon as I could.
I decided I would head out a couple of days later and instead of shooting the coast again I opted to head up onto Dartmoor. The weather conditions weren’t exactly ideal for landscape photography. The forecast was predicting 100% clear skies (everywhere) and sub zero conditions.
Despite the weather forecast I was committed to going out and getting some practise in with the camera. Practising photography became really important to me after watching this video by John Free. I know John is a street photographer but the message is clear. It’s probably one of the most important photography videos I’ve ever watched.
Risk vs Reward
While the goal of my trip to Dartmoor was to practise my photography, I was still hoping to get some good photographs. This is where the risk vs reward bit comes in. It’s rare that the weather forecast is 100% accurate or the conditions are predicted to be perfect for landscape photography (whatever perfect might be), so there is always an element of risk.
Sometimes the risk is part of the excitement though. If you always knew what the the conditions were exactly going to do then some of the joy of landscape photography would be lost. While the forecast conditions wouldn’t necessarily yield a great photography, if I didn’t take the risk of going I might miss something special.
So did my trip to Dartmoor pay off? You find out in the video below where you will see the images I took and hear me talk more about the value in practising photography and risk vs reward. Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed that 5 Minute Photo Adventure <insert playlist URL>. Do you practise your landscape photography? How do you measure risk vs reward? Let me know in the comments below.
The Photographs
As always here are the photographs from the video.
Dawn at Belstone #1, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 14mm, f/13, 1/4 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL.
Dawn at Belstone #2, Dartmoor National Park, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor 14-30mm f/4 at 18mm, f/13, 1/13 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL.
My Other Photography Life
In this blog post I discuss my other photographic passion and how it has benefited my landscape photography.
I Can Do That!
My first gig shoot with Big Country.
This website and blog is dedicated to my journey as a landscape photographer. I love the outdoors and photographing it is a passion for me. However, back in 2013 I started photographing gigs at a local venue. It all started with a desk side conversation with a work colleague who was running a music review website called musicmuso.com
He was out reviewing local gigs and posting the write up on his website. As most people know content is king on the web and I suggested that he should have some images to go with his well-crafted words. At the time I was pushing myself to go out more with my camera but those long winter nights aren't exactly conducive to landscape photography so I offered my services.
And so one cold October evening I photographed Big Country at the Exeter Phoenix in Devon. As soon as I started shooting I was hooked! This was a totally different type of photography. While the learning curve was steep I still managed to get some quality images. This was the perfect way to keep my hand in with the camera and since gigs don't often start until after 8pm it didn't interrupt my family or work live.
Getting My Photography Fix
Gary Barlow at Radio One Big Weekend.
Don't get me wrong, I love landscape photography and I'm committed to being a success in it (see my post on The Pain and Joy of Photography Competitions). However, I feel it is important to not only broaden your photographic horizons but to keep on practising (see my blog post of Practising The Craft of Photography). As I work a full time job and I have many family commitments, getting out to shoot landscapes during the week can be problematic. Gig photography gives me that photography fix I need. It has also taught me a LOT about my camera. I can control most of it now without even looking at the camera!
This year I was lucky enough to shoot Radio 1's Big Weekend when it visited Exeter. I photographed Cold Play, Mumford & Sons, and Ellie Goulding to name but a few. It was one hell of an experience but something that I had built up to over a number of years.
If you want to see some more of my music related images please head over to julianbaird.com have a blog over there as well but it's a different style than this one. Where this blog is more of a journal and a way to share information, my music blog is a way to share my latest images.
So do you have two photographic identities? Do you keep them separate? Is it possible to fully immerse yourself in two genres of photography? Let me know in the comments.