Landscapes have always eluded me. I could appreciate the awesome landscapes of other photographers but could never create them myself. So I focused in on the smaller scenes and details, and left the landscapes alone. Occasionally trying, and failing, to capture what I felt in the scene.
So it came as a surprise a few months ago when I found myself capturing more landscapes. What was going on?
With the “Blown Away” image I shared last week, I finally figured it out. The difference now is that I’m not trying to capture the “landscape.” There is no goal to fit in the entire scene or capture the grandeur.
What I’m doing now is photographing trees, in context. I’m thinking: How do I best capture this tree and it’s surroundings? How do I best convey it’s loneliness or it’s beauty or it’s light? It all stems from that effort. That I end up with a photograph that can be categorized as a landscape is incidental.
Could it really be so simple? I think maybe it is. Landscapes may not be so elusive after all.
Thanks to Brenda’s Photo-Heart Connection post for reminding me of this “aha” moment. I love how the PHC community inspires and grows together! You can still join us this month, the Photo-Heart Connection link up is open until April 7th.
Such good advise, Kat. Sometimes the grandeur is a by-product of the context – as in this tree.
A simply gorgeous tree silhouette portrait. Sometimes we just need to re-define things in our own head – for you, “landscapes” are tree portraits – and suddenly, they make sense.
Ding, ding, ding….wow I think you hit the nail on the head for me. I have always had a hard time with large spaces of landscape, but you are so right when I’ve focused on one thing within it, that is when I feel I have actually captured something I’ve been happy with.
Pretty cool, huh? I’m glad that this clicked with you too. It was one of those amazing “aha” moments that shifted the way I look at landscapes.
wow! 🙂
Beautiful silhouette. What an excellent advise. I have to remind myself once in a while that less is more.