Capturing Mood – The Art of Landscape Photography
People who take photographs often have a favourite subject: pets, people, food, steam trains, abstract images or landscapes. Mine is the last of these, and as with many attracted to taking their camera out of doors this stems from a longstanding love of nature and the countryside, especially the hills.
My spirits rise in these surroundings, and if there is a seashore as well then so much the better. This photographic discipline is far from easy to pursue however. It involves travel and often very early starts or staying late at a location so as to get the best light.
Our weather is more predictable than before but even now there is much uncertainty, and a promising start to an expedition very often ends in disappointment when the sky clouds over or, just as bad, when there are no clouds at all but just an unremittingly blue sky with strong sunlight.
The quality and direction of the light are absolutely fundamental to a satisfactory land- or sea-scape image. “Good light” can literally transform a scene, and it is sometimes necessary to return to a location many times to capture the image you want.
“Capture” is the right word to use here, as it often feels like hunting an elusive quarry. What is the light doing? It is surely changing the mood of a scene.
The same rocky cove in Cornwall with a sandy beach bathed in sunlight is a pleasant holiday spot for picnics and bathing. With lowering clouds and strongly directional lighting from a low angle at dusk it is a forbidding secret place; threatening even, especially if a strong wind is blowing the spume off large breakers crashing on the shore.
Much of what I try to do with my imaging is emphasising the mood I feel when I visit these places. All digital cameras record the raw image in colour, but processing in black, grey and white particularly lends itself to portraying mood, especially at the darker end of the spectrum.
It also has the advantage that it is quite removed from the reality someone experiences when they see the scene with their own eyes. This means that the end result, often a print, is considered as a representation; a vehicle for transferring to the viewer the emotional response the photographer experienced when the shot was taken.
