Nowhereman Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 >>>Politics. Landscapes are most interesting when they have something to say about man's impact on his world....There's nothing that annoys me more than a nice virgin landscape picture.<<< Hey, not everything is politics! There are some virgin landscapes...and to say that they cannot be photographed without making a political statement is just to bury your head in the sand in another way. The only thing is to be able to keep the picture from being trite. Don't forget you can be just as trite making a political statement. So shall I say, "trite is as trite does"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wim_van_velzen Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Hi Trevor, <p> We didn't really made our land out of the sea. As the medieval Dutchmen cleared the forests of the Rhine-delta moors and made ditches and canals to drain their fields-to-be, the boggy soil lost its water and the landlevel sunk below sea level. <br> Since then we needed to built dikes and polders - although after this long hot summer we actually ran out of water... <p> Most landscapes are deeply influenced by men - maybe that is why we like 'really untouched landscapes'. <p> E.g. Scotland is by a lot of people thought of as a unspoilt landscape. This is far from the truth, very far. The landscape is just beautiful and there are not that many inhabitants. <p> The Netherlands are densely populated, but medieval dikes and modern polders are a good subject to photograph - although it is not really my thing. <p> <a href="http://www.fotografiewimvanvelzen.nl">Wim</a> <p> <img src='http://www.fotografiewimvanvelzen.nl/images/lrivi090598-09.jpg' alt='Lexmond, the Netherlands' width= '427' height='418' /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Some of the great 'virgin' landscapes of earth.... Sahara. Once lush and green and farmed millenia ago. (Bronze age around 2500 BC) Greenland. Once lush and green (hence the name) and farmed. (Vikings) Himalayas. Strewn with thousands of items of human litter including oxygen tanks, human waste, cooking implements and bodies of deceased mountaineers. Amazon rainforests. Have been 'managed' and lived in by the indigenous tribes for thousands of years. Only 'virgin' to western eyes. Pacific Ocean. Littered with millions of cheap training shoes after various shipping accidents. (Training shoes hardly ever sink.) These are now being tracked by oceanographers and meteorologists concerned about the changing pacific currents. Politics / economics / conquest / foot fashion / climate change. There is NO true wilderness out there. Even deep under the Sahara you will find Bronze age farms. (Maybe even the odd Nike shoe!) The whole of recorded human history back to the time of the ancient city of Ur (and beyond) has all occurred during a 'tea-break' in the current ice age. Lets photograph it, virgin or not, before it all reverts back to icy white. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Wim. Very much the same way that the Norfolk fenlands came to be. Ancient farmers in the midlands cleared forest and farmed it. The soil that drained away as a result built up the level of the seabed around Norfolk and flooded wetlands came about. English and Dutch engineers have spent 400 years keeping it drained as rich farmland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann_stella Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 How many colours does the wind have? The answer to your question could be: The photographer�s interpretation.( of the Creators work )I strongly urge you to use all your senses. Film, camera and all the gear + teknik etc, is just a choice you make ( and have to master) to communicate what you sense out there in nature. When John Blakemore (UK) first showed me his B/W picture of wind, I could HEAR the wind in his picture. (also printed in his book: Inscape)-Yes, it is nice to please the eye with a nice or wow picture,- but who wants nice, when you can have or look at a picture, that can touch you on a deep mystical level? Yukaze ya shirabara no hana mina ugoku. Ann Stella Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_. Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 <<Subject: What makes a good Landscape shot?>> A Leica of course. Geez, tell me I'm the only one who can give an on-topic response ;>) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_brantley2 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 I am thankful to have found the best professional landscape photography book that I've run across - "First Light" by the British 4x5 photographer Joe Cornish. In my humble opinion, Joe's work has no professional peer in terms of outstanding landscape photography. His web site and gallery can be found as follows: www.joecornish.com/about/about.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_brantley2 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Ann, you forget to mention "wabi sabi". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug herr Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Re: Joe Cornish's photos - I like his sense of design and composition. I wish he'd use something other than Velvia now and then. The perpetual blast of unreal colours from his website is a bit much for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Like good and great music, photographs , landscapes need emotional, aesthetic & intellectual "hooks". The viewer has to be stimulated emotionally, intrigued by the formal visual qualities (light, composition, framing, color (or black & white tonalities); and provoked to think about what they are seeing as they look at the image. Weakness in any one of these areas will sabotage the image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george_l._doolittle Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 A superb book, in my opinion, is "Lens,Light & Landscape" by fellow Leica enthusiast, Brian Bower. Enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henk Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Wim, "As the medieval Dutchmen cleared the forests of the Rhine-delta moors and made ditches and canals to drain their fields-to-be, the boggy soil lost its water and the landlevel sunk below sea level." Not entirely true, after we used up all the wood we exploited the boggs to heat our houses untill we nearly drowned, then we used windmills so we could dig even deeper. They dont call us flying dutchmen for nothing ;)) Greetings, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henk Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Trevor, We have an evil sense of humour? Nah, were very down to earth people really. Well eehh.... the ones that live above sealevel at least... ;) Greetings, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nowhereman Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 >>>A Leica of course. Geez, tell me I'm the only one who can give an on-topic response ;>)<<< Flippant, yes. But obviously by someone who is not a photographer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_tillman Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 <div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_perkins2 Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 If we're going to list books, some good recent landscape books: Fuji, by Chris Steele Perkins http://www.foto8.com/reviews/fuji.html Chronotopia, Simon Norfolk http://www.dewilewispublishing.com/PHOTOGRAPHY/Simon_Norfolk.html A Way into India, Raghubir Singh http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0714842117/ Once, Wim Wenders http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1891024256/ Wim Wenders uses a Leica w/ 28 and a medium format, forgot which one, Steele Perkins has a big Fuji medium-format panoramic, but some of the shots might be with M6+35f1.4 pre-asph, Simon Norfolk used a view camera. Odd, out of 4 landscape books, 3 are by Europeans, but none are shot in Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h._p. Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 "Flippant, yes. But obviously by someone who is not a photographer." Rather unkind but I have to admit I can't recall seeing any of Jay's pictures posted here. I'm sure he'll point me to a few, though.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_sullivan Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 <br>...as in all photography...the light...and the moment<br><br><center><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tssullivan/nature/images/mullica%20sunrise.jpg"></center><br><center>Mullica River, New Jersey</center><br><br Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moiz Posted August 26, 2003 Share Posted August 26, 2003 Now I've never even attempted to take a decent landcape shot in my life. I wouldnt know how to! And although I enjoy looking at landscape photos, a lot of the time they are just that little bit too technical and not quite emotional enough. The only exception up until fifteen minutes ago were the Don McCullin shots mentioned by Trevor (which I believe were slated in the press).<br><br> "So what happened fifteen minutes ago?" you ask (or not). Well I ran across this: <a href="http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/Pa.aspx?&E=A_2TYRYDWHN7XJ">"Shorelines" by Harry Gruyaert.</a> Some of the most glorious colours ive ever seen and thats only on my monitor. If only I could afford the book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nesrani Posted August 26, 2003 Share Posted August 26, 2003 Salgado is an outstanding landscapist, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry_rory Posted August 28, 2003 Share Posted August 28, 2003 Moiz. Hi. Thanks for the 'Shorelines' link. Really very good. I think you may like this as well..... http://www.markpower.co.uk/index2003.htm Then click on "Archive" and "Shipping forecast" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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