Category Archives: Nature Photography

Kiliii Yüyan is an award-winning photographer whose work has taken us to some of the world’s harshest environments, contributed to the discussion around stewardship, uplifted Indigenous perspectives, and illuminated the importance of human connection to the land and sea. To recognize this incredible portfolio of work, Kiliii Yüyan has received the National Geographic Society’s 2023 Eliza Scidmore Award for Outstanding Storytelling.

This award––named for the writer and photographer Eliza Scidmore, the first woman elected to the Society’s Board of Trustees in 1892––recognizes individuals who use immersive storytelling to make complex ideas, issues, and information relevant and accessible.

Raised by parents who sought refuge in the U.S., and informed by his ancestry that is both Nanai/Hèzhé (East Asian Indigenous) and Chinese-American, Yüyan’s work explores the human relationship to the natural world from different cultural perspectives. He said: “Trying to understand my ancestry led me on a lifelong dive into Indigenous perspectives and ultimately guided me into storytelling.”

Whether he’s camping on arctic sea ice with polar bears, sharing a meal of piranhas with the Cofan in the Amazon rainforest, or participating in cultural burns with the Yurok community in California, one thing is sure: Yüyan demonstrates what it takes to create a truly immersive storytelling experience.

“We are thrilled to announce Kiliii as the recipient of the 2023 Eliza Scidmore Award for his outstanding accomplishments and contributions to storytelling,” said Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of the National Geographic Society. “Kiliii’s dedication to illuminating the important stories of the Arctic and Indigenous communities epitomizes the power of storytelling by bringing new perspectives about humanity’s relationship with nature to audiences around the world.” 

In 2022, he received a grant from the Society and The Climate Pledge to conduct a project focused on Indigenous conservation. Specifically, he is photographing five communities from the Greenland coastline to the coral reefs of Palau to show successful Indigenous conservation efforts.

His outstanding contributions to National Geographic magazine include his 2018 documentation of the millennia-old Inupiaq subsistence whale hunt and its key importance to their collectivist culture, and his photographs for the July 2022 cover story that helped more people understand the sovereignty of Native nations across North America. Beyond National Geographic, Yüyan’s work has been exhibited worldwide and featured in top publications. Yüyan is and will continue to be one of the most pivotal contributors to photography.

Yüyan’s explorations past and present portray resilience, empathy, authenticity, and change. Through his impactful work, Yüyan will be honored as the 2023 Eliza Scidmore Award recipient during the annual National Geographic Society Storytellers Summit. Past recipients include Lynsey Addario, Erika Larsen, David Quammen, and Lynn Johnson.

March 23, 2022

SkyPixel, one of the world’s most popular aerial photography communities, has announced the winners of the Skypixel 7th Anniversary Aerial Photo & Video Contest.

Co-organised with drone maker DJI, this year’s contest attracted nearly 30,000 submissions from professional photographers, videographers, aerial enthusiasts and content creators from 124 different countries and regions.

Grand Prize Photo

The Grand Prize winner in the Photo Category was shot by Zhu Jianxin on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro.

The image, titled Orchid, shows an otherworldly sight of a frozen lake after a heavy snow fell in the Taklamakan Desert, China. With a simple change in perspective, several cracks on a frozen lake magically came together to form something akin to a portrait of an elegant orchid.

Orchid, taken on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro in Xinjiang, China. 1/240sec at f/6, ISO 100. Image: Zhu Jianxin/Skypixel

Jianxin explained, ‘Photography as an art form always comes from life. It is born from nature. I am amazed by how a drone changes my perspective and helps me capture the beauty of our world.’

All submissions to the contest were assessed by a judging panel that included Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Alex Mellis, Pieter de Vries, Stefan Foster, Karim Iliya and Yunshan Yu.

Judge Stefan Foster commented on the work, ‘The real art in photography is to capture a photograph people have to analyse longer than a few seconds to see what the picture really shows.’

DJI Mavic 3 Limited Award

The DJI Mavic 3 Limited Award (only open to users of the DJI Mavic 3 drone) went to an image called China Animation Museum in the Mist by a Chinese photographer who goes by the name Tension Vision. The building is in Zhejiang, China.

You can read our DJI Mavic 3 review.

China Animation Museum in the Mist shot on a DJI Mavic 3 in Zhejiang, China. 1/600sec at f/3, ISO 100. Image: Tension Vision/Skypixel

Other Photo First Prizes

The other first prizes in the photography awards went to Scream by Nizhny Novgorod (Russia), Perfect Chaos by Sara Zanini (location unknown), Collecting Bang Grass by binhd7 (Vietnam) and Shadow Basketball II by Ekaterina Polischuk (Ukraine).

Scream, shot on a DJI Mavic Pro. 1/1000sec at f/2.3, ISO 100. Image: Nizhny Novgorod/Skypixel

Perfect Chaos, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. Image: Sara Zanini/Skypixel

Collecting Bang Grass, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/40sec at f/5.3, ISO 100. Image: binhd7/Skypixel

Shadow Basketball II, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/1000sec at f/3, ISO 100. Image: Ekaterina Polischuk/Skypixel

Photography – Second Prizes

The second prizes in the photography awards went to The Source of Landscape by Mark’s Horizon (Tibet), Age of Stone by I don’t want to take this name (Qintai Art Museum, China), Ice and Fire by Walker (Shenyang, China) and Alien Planet Vacations by Flamboyant Little Strong.

The Source of Landscape, shot on a DJI Air 2S. 1/2500sec at f/3, ISO 100. Image: Mark’s Horizon/Skypixel

Age of Stone, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/200sec at f/5.7, ISO 100. Image: I don’t want to take this name/Skypixel

Ice and Fire, shot on a DJI Air 2S. 1/640sec at f/3, ISO 100. Image: Walker/Skypixel

Alien Planet Vacations, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/200sec at f/5.3, ISO 100. Image: Flamboyant Little Strong/Skypixel

Photography – Third Prizes

The third prizes in the photography awards went to Mars by Lou (location unknown), Jin Ruyi lying on the East Lake by Goericgo (Hubei, China), Compete for the Top by AndyAndy (Shanghai, China) and Tillage by Empty Mountain Bird (Guizhou, China).

Mars, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/60sec at f/4, ISO 100. Image: Lou/Skypixel

Jin Ruyi lying on the East Lake, shot on a DJI Mavic Air 2. 1/320sec at f/3, ISO 100. Image: Goericgo/Skypixel

Compete for the Top, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom. 1/1000sec at f/3.9, ISO 100. Image: AndyAndy/Skypixel

Tillage, shot on a DJI Mavic 2 Pro. 1/120sec at f/6.3, ISO 100. Image: Empty Mountain Bird/Skypixel

View all the winners

To view all of the winning and shortlisted submissions in the Photo and Video categories just go to Skypixel Contest Winners 2021.

About SkyPixel

Since 2014, the SkyPixel online community has attracted over 37 million aerial photographers, videographers, and content creators from more than 140 countries.

Now in its seventh year, SkyPixel keeps evolving and connecting photographic communities across the world.

From aerial photography to everyday vlogs, SkyPixel now holds a vast collection of extraordinary footage spanning the themes of nature, culture, architecture, and other aerial masterpieces.

Related articles:

How to create vertical panoramas with drones

Photographers: How to fly drones and not break the law

DJI Mavic 3 review

Watercolor painting by Ken Harvey Submitted photo

The photography of Molli Cullins and the watercolor paintings of Ken Harvey are on display in the Woman’s Hospital Association Rotating Art Gallery at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

A nature and landscape photographer from Northern Maine, Cullins is also a critical care registered nurse at Central Maine Medical Center. “I enjoy all things wild and outdoors. I can be found looking for the perfect photo op across the state of Maine and my heart belongs in the County.”

Harvey is a plein-air watercolor artist who has been exploring this medium for over thirty years. “My art is about getting out in nature and experiencing all that this state has to offer. It is also about offering a chance to stop and reflect on life’s quieter moments away from all the everyday hustle and bustle. If I can make someone’s day a little more pleasant and relaxed, then my job is done.”

The works on display may be purchased through the WHA Gift Shop located adjacent to the main lobby at Central Maine Medical Center. A percentage of sale proceeds benefits patients of CMMC.

Photograph by Molli Cullins Submitted photo

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April 7, 2022

Three photographers discuss the art and craft of intimate spring photography, and how to make your images stand out from the rest, with Claire Gillo

Now that Spring is upon us, why not try getting creative with your landscape and nature photography? Photographers Charlotte Gibb, Mark Gilligan and Jo Stephen share their tips for intimate spring landscape photography below.

Charlotte Gibb

Charlotte is a California-based landscape/nature photographer and educator. See www.charlottegibbblog.com, on Facebook @charlottegibbphotography and Instagram @charlottegibb. She is the author of Get Intimate: Making A Personal Statement with Intimate Landscapes and is exhibiting at the Ansel Adams Gallery, Yosemite National Park, from 23 April until 3 June this year.

‘Intimate landscapes are compositions that have been derived from the larger scene,’ says US photographer Charlotte Gibb. ‘It could be a photograph of a small section of beach, or a group of trees, or it could be a photograph of a section of an entire mountain.

‘Typically, the sky is not part of the composition, so intimate landscapes don’t rely on attention-grabbing sunsets. They are more subtle, and, for me, often have an element of symbolism in them,’ she continues. ‘It can be a challenge. Intimate landscapes can’t rely on grand, colourful scenes to inspire awe in the viewer, so the photographer has to be more clever about how to compose. Don’t feel dispirited if your photographs aren’t compelling when you start. Just keep at it.’

View of Yosemite Falls from a hotel room. Taken with a very long focal length of 560mm
Canon EOS R, 100-400mm + 1.4x III extender, 1/80sec at f/16, ISO 400. Image: Charlotte Gibb

Rather than hunting for subjects, Charlotte studies a scene for design elements. ‘What shapes do I see?’ she says. ‘Pine trees are triangle shapes. Deciduous trees in winter are a series of lines. I look for repeating patterns, or contrasting colours. I also look for interesting light.’

Charlotte’s stamping ground is California. It’s home to a wide variety of landscapes, from rugged coastlines to ancient Redwood trees and deserts. ‘My heart-of-hearts is with the Sierra Nevada mountains and Yosemite National Park, though,’ she says. ‘There is tremendous diversity, and as much as I go back again and again, I always come away with a new composition. My most meaningful work has come from these places.’

Taking precautions

When asked how she keeps herself safe in this environment Charlotte replies, ‘Good question! Yosemite wildlife isn’t really dangerous unless you look for trouble. Sure, we have black bears, but they are more interested in your sandwich than in you. We do have mountain lions, and like bears, they can be dangerous if they have cubs nearby, but otherwise they are reclusive. I have never seen one in the wild, though. ‘The biggest danger in Yosemite is one’s own recklessness.

Although she has photographed rainbows on Yosemite Falls many times, this was the first time Charlotte witnessed two of them. Canon EOS R5, 70-200mm at 92mm, 1/100sec at f/13, ISO 400. Image: Charlotte Gibb

I also carry a Spot GPS device. It allows my husband to keep track of where I am, and would also let me call in the helicopters if I were to find myself in a critical situation. Fortunately, that has never happened.’

Charlotte has two Canon EOS R5 bodies and a variety of Canon RF lenses. ‘But my favourite lens is my Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM – it’s my precious!’ she jokes. ‘It has the perfect range of focal lengths for the type of photography I do. Long lenses are great for creating atmosphere and zeroing in on smaller sections of the landscape.

I also love my Arca-Swiss d4 Tripod Head with a Classic Knob (Geared). It allows me to make minute adjustments when composing.’ When it comes to composition, Charlotte likes to stay spontaneous. ‘The feeling of connection with nature is key. I internalise what is around me.’

Dogwoods in bloom in abundance in Yosemite Valley in the spring, but congregate in just a few places. This scene was spotted near the east end of the valley Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 24-105mm at 105mm, 2.5secs at f/16, ISO 100. Image: Charlotte Gibb

Charlotte’s top tips for intimate spring landscapes

1.  Slow down. Find solitude. Connect with nature. Explore. Be curious.
2. Zoom in. Either use a longer lens, or zoom with your feet. Getting up close will help to eliminate distracting elements in the scene and simplify the composition.
3. Eliminate the sky. The sky is usually the brightest part of the picture and will draw the eye away from your subject like a magnet.

Mark Gilligan

Mark has been a professional photographer for more than 40 years. He is a LEE Filters Master, a winner of the #OMGB in LPOTY, and runs workshops in the Lake District and Snowdonia. Find out more at www.wastwaterphotography.co.uk and follow on social media @wastwater1

Mark Gilligan enjoys hunting for less obvious landscapes. ‘As well as larger, grander, landscapes, I also derive pleasure in finding images that aren’t so obvious. These could be very close. Some are smaller views or segments of the view that you decide to isolate.’

Make use of empty space in your compositions to create a feeling of calm and tranquillity 1/30sec at f/3.2, ISO 200. Image: Mark Gilligan

In his kit bag, Mark has a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and to shoot his close-up landscapes switches between his Fujifilm XF 16-55mm f/2.8 and Fujifilm XF 55-140mm f/2.8 lenses. ‘The 16-55mm is my go-to lens, though,’ he says. ‘I often shoot using a shallow depth of field which works well with the longer zoom.’ Occasionally, he will hand-hold his camera, but most of the time uses his Gitzo tripod.

Mark loves the spring light. ‘The light begins to get harder, which I find works well with the water-based images,’ he says. ‘I like to retain the detail and “over cook” the surroundings to the limit, thus enabling me to get the image I want. I hardly do anything in post.’

Look for plain backgrounds to frame a plant or flower in the environment. Fujifilm X-T1, 18-55mm at 55mm, 1/2000sec at f/4, ISO 400. Image: Mark Gilligan

Seeking the right subject

To find the perfect subject for his intimate landscapes, Mark will scan the scene to find elements of interest, and doesn’t like to restrict himself. ‘If I see something and it appeals, I will try my best to photograph it and do it justice,’ he says. ‘I like that old word “serendipity”. I’ll happen upon it and if I like it, I’ll take it.

‘A forest can be a good location, but being by the waterside has produced many great images for me – I particularly like photographing reeds. They are usually at their best in the spring and summer, and hard light allows me to overexpose the water, which retains the detail in the plants. Sometimes I can isolate them but a “gaggle” of them can produce interesting abstracts and be just as appealing.’

Mark also finds quarry rock to be good in damp conditions. ‘Wet slate can produce some outstanding colours and potential images.’ To edit his images, Mark uses Lightroom. ‘As I shoot in raw, I make a couple of tweaks, but I use the spot meter on my camera (I know I am old school) and my LEE filters so my exposures are usually very accurate. In short, I can generally deliver an image in under a minute.’ Mark prefers to spend his days outside shooting, rather than sat for hours inside at the computer.

By blurring the backdrop and isolating an individual plant, Mark has created this effective result
Fujifilm X-Pro2, 50-140mm at 140mm, 1/1250sec at f/4, ISO 100,. Image: Mark Gilligan

While traditional in his approach, he also pushes the boundaries. ‘Once I see a subject, I may take it faithfully or create the final result in camera by controlling the light,’ he says. ‘Intimate landscape means different things to many people. It is the one area of my photography where I am happy to experiment and not faithfully photograph what I see, because I am after something different. In order to do this, you need to understand what you are doing with your camera, so make an effort to learn how to control it.’

Mark’s top tips for intimate spring landscapes

1. Scope where you are. Not just for that day but for the future. Some things will be obvious, but take your time and look.
2. Never be downhearted; if it doesn’t always work – at least try!
3. Experiment and don’t be afraid to push the boundaries.

Use the harsher light conditions of spring to your advantage to get results like Mark’s shot of leaves and reeds Fujifilm X-Pro2, 50-140mm at 140mm, 1/500sec at f/4, ISO 200. Image: Mark Gilligan

Jo Stephen

Jo is a naturalist and environmentalist, and has been taking photographs in her local landscape for many years. She also works in nature conservation. Her photography explores her connection to the natural world and her place within it, and is created ethically with a minimal carbon and ecological footprint. Find out more at www.jostephen.photography, and follow on social media @joannunaki

Go in close to find a whole other world of flowers and species. Sony A58, 90mm, f/2.8 at 1/2500sec, ISO 100. Image: Jo Stephen

Spring has always been Jo Stephen’s favourite season. ‘I live in a village surrounded by woodlands carpeted in bluebells and wild garlic in the spring. Watching the landscape transform so dynamically in the spring inspires a lot of my work.’

Jo shoots on her old yet reliable Sony A58 and Olympus OM-D E-M10 III. ‘As much as I’d love a more capable camera, particularly one with in-camera multiple exposure, as an environmentalist I’m happy to continue using these,’ she says. ‘I shoot nearly everything with my macro lens, even landscapes. Spring is a wonderful time for more creative techniques, such as intentional camera movement and multiple exposure. Using movement when shooting is an effective way of communicating the dynamism of the season.’

To find the perfect subject, Jo likes to give herself freedom to experiment, and to explore colours, textures and forms that resonate in the landscape. ‘Don’t worry what anyone else is shooting and don’t get fixated on what kit you have – you can take great images on cheap cameras.’

Using layers of images, Jo has created this striking image of a pink cherry tree Sony A58, 90mm, f/2.8, ISO 100. Image: Jo Stephen

She continues, ‘Shooting up close opens myriad tiny worlds, so if like me you only shoot what’s on your doorstep, it’s still going to take several lifetimes to get bored with the vistas. It should be about the joy of creating, and that means sometimes you’ll come back with awful results, but that’s how you learn and evolve.’

To create her abstracts, Jo uses a couple of techniques. ‘Much of my work involves intentional camera movement (ICM) to varying degrees,’ she explains. ‘It may be that I take a few blurry shots to use as textures with static shots, or ICM may be the focus of the image I’m creating, as in the bluebell shot.

I like to use subtle movement and will pause during the motion to let elements of the composition “stick” and remain in focus. I look for texture and light in the composition; any highlights will become streaks and lines throughout the image, so you need to think about how you will use those if you start moving the camera erratically. It can be hit and miss whether the light will create interesting or jarring shapes. I like to make use of contrast, and often look for light subjects against a darker or boldly coloured background.’

This image was created with a forward circular movement, using half the exposure time to rest upon the bluebells and the remaining half to move the camera. Sony A58, 90mm, f/20, ISO 100. Image: Jo Stephen

Multiple exposures

Jo also likes to layer her images using multiple exposures. ‘As I only have an old entry-level camera, I am unable to do this in camera, so this work is made in post. I’ll collect a few images, both ICM and static, and maybe a few that are completely out of focus, to add colour and texture. After a while you get an idea of what you need to shoot to create the images you have in your mind later at the computer.’
When it comes to taking intimate landscapes, for Jo the joy is not so much in the final result but rather the act of being in nature.

‘Shoot what you love – for me that’s my walks in the woods and meadows. I think if you care about your subject, then you’ll connect with it and find a way to express that connection. For me, photography is about the process, not the resulting image.’ She continues with a word of warning. ‘Any nature photographer needs to be mindful of their subject. Basic field skills will help you to get closer to nature and understand the behaviours of the wildlife you’re watching.

But, more importantly is the need not to disturb or impact in any way on those natural behaviours. For this reason I won’t share locations of rare species and don’t geotag.’ Jo recommends any nature photographer to have a look at the RPS Nature Photographers’ Code of Practice, which outlines best practice for ethical nature photography.

Cherry blossom lends itself perfectly to creative photography. Image: Jo Stephens

Jo’s top tips for intimate spring landscapes

1.  Visit the woods in the early morning or evening, as the light provides that beautiful contrast.
2. Shoot into the light with a wide aperture for airy, romantic images.
3. Look for pattern or contrast in the landscape (intimate or wide), as this makes for great ICM imagery.

This abstract spring image of wood anemones was made using ICM and multiple exposures. Sony A58, 90mm, f/13, ISO 100. Image: Jo Stephen

View more tips for Spring photography here: 33 Essential Spring Photo Tips

Further reading:

The world’s best nature photographs of 2021 revealed

Best lenses for wildlife and nature photography

Follow AP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

As the days get darker, we all look to seasonal comforts to keep ourselves bright and cheery, at least on the inside. Whether that’s hiking outdoors, staying under a blanket, or hitting up the bonfire with your buds, Newfoundland and Labrador has options.

If you’d like to send in a photo for next week’s gallery, scroll to the bottom to learn how.

Have a photo you’d like to share?  

Here’s how to get in touch with us: email [email protected]. It’s a dedicated address just for photo submissions from across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Here’s what we need from you: your name, where the photo was taken and a caption that tells us what’s in the image. We encourage you to add any information you think our readers would enjoy!

We share the photos we receive here, and we might also use them on Here & Now each weeknight during Ashley Brauweiler’s weather segments, as well as on our Facebook page, our Twitter feed and on our Instagram account. And we always give credit. Providing a handle for Instagram would be appreciated!

Because of the volume of submissions we receive, we cannot respond to everyone.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

April 11, 2022

Back in March, Graeme Chesters, the first recipient of AP’s Rising Star Bursary, made his second trip to document the people and landscape around Longyearbyen – the most northerly town in the world, located on the Island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago (you can read about his first trip here).

The bursary, arranged in partnership with leading used specialist MPB, gives amateur photographers a unique opportunity to work on a long-term project on the theme of ‘Change’.  Graeme received up to £5,000 in expenses, along with mentoring and support from top pro Peter Dench and the AP team, while MPB is providing him with an ongoing photography-kit loan from its extensive supply of quality used gear.

All pictures credit Graeme Chesters

Impressive – and worrying
Graeme began by explaining how he noticed more changes in the landscape on this second trip. “When you start moving out of Longyearbyen, travelling with a dog team to get out into the more remote areas, you can witness some impressive and sometimes worrying sights. I visited some of the ice caves in Scott Turnerbreen Glacier, for example, (below) and it was quite revealing. The caves get cut out by melt water in the summer season, which creates a gap, and then they refreeze. So they are different every year.

In the strata of the caves you can see periods of change – all sorts of things are recorded. Glaciologists use the air that is trapped in bubbles to examine and test for carbon levels, so they can see the change in composition in terms of the atmosphere.

What you also see is the advent of certain algae and bacteria in the ice at different points, particularly over the last few years. There has been more rain in recent years and the temperature can now vary widely. When we arrived at the caves the temperature got as low as – 32. But as we were leaving there was a day where it got above freezing, and it rained. That is quite catastrophic – you remove the opportunity for people to travel by snowmobile, because of all a sudden the routes they are using round the town melt quickly and you have flood conditions.

Also when the routes refreeze, there is ice on top of snow, which makes life very difficult for reindeer trying to dig through the snow to get to the tundra for food.’

Ice on the move
Meltwater can also accelerate the movement of glaciers – quite literally, as Graeme explains. ‘It’s quite frightening – as the temperatures rise, particularly during the summer period, and meltwater manages to work its way through the glacier and get to the bottom, it creates a surface for the glaciers to move and slip more quickly. A glacier moves to the sea anyway, but water underneath can move it much more quickly.’

As Graeme wryly notes, nobody in Longyearbyen believes climate change isn’t happening – they can see it happening all around them. ‘The locals told me I needed to be extra careful in places where before there was a semi-permanent ice and far more predictability. On another occasion pancake and sea ice largely melted in a couple of days and was blown back out into the fjord – the fjords used to freeze and you could walk across them, now they freeze and unfreeze.’

There is also an increased risk of avalanches. ‘We had to avoid going through one narrow passage as the temperature had warmed up by 10 degrees, increasing the risk of avalanche. Travelling along the bottom of a narrow valley was too dangerous.’

Graeme’s gear
For this second trip, Graeme took a Fujifilm X-T4, a Fujifilm 50-140mm f/2.8 lens, the Fujifilm 33mm f/1.4 and the 18mm f/1.4 primes and an X-100V as a back-up – all carefully checked and supplied by MPB.

“All the kit stood up really well,’ Graeme reports. ‘The new batteries in the XT4 lasted a lot better, and anyway, you are keeping them inside down jackets, as close to your body as possible, to keep them warm.

However, a NISI filter on the X-1OOV exploded on me – their glass is normally very good but this one just shattered.’

Most of the landscape shots on this second trip were taken handheld. ‘Setting up a tripod when out with a dog sled or on a snowmobile was just too dangerous in terms of frostbite. Anything you touch can cause problems, as the metal can stick to your skin, causing a freezer burn. There are 6.5 stops of in-body image stabilisation on the X-T4, and I’m using the 50-140mm which is also stabilised, so I can shoot handheld with confidence.’

Graeme found some other kit wasn’t quite up to scratch, however. ‘I also took a GoPro Hero 10, but once the temperature went below – 15, it reported the battery was too cold and refused to work. I was quite surprised about that. The Fujifilm kit was brilliant in the extreme cold, though, it’s overengineered in this respect.’

Industrial landscapes
Graeme also got some interesting shots around Coles Bay, the site of long-abandoned mines, some of which were owned by enterprises from the former Soviet Union. ‘The old Soviet-controlled mines were abandoned in early 80, but because nothing rots there because of the temperature, it’s all preserved. There is still all the equipment around the pit head, while the dormitories, which were also used as a stopping off point for other travellers, revealed old Russian newspapers from the 80s.

Then you come across shelves with flour, live rounds of ammunition, whisky, vodka…It’s an interesting and moving environment but there is also a significant polar bear risk. When you are wandering around with the wind howling outside and the snow piling up, it really brings home what it must have been like during the Soviet era, doing a tough job in a very tough industry.’

Ever-changing light
‘As a photographer, I was really struck by the way the landscape responds to light on this second trip, and the return of the sun,’ Graeme adds. ‘On top of the mountain range opposite Longyearbyen you go through every pastel shade, depending on how cloudy it is… pinks to burnt ambers to oranges, and it’s so incredibly dramatic. It is changing constantly. Your eyes are constantly being drawn by the re-emergence of light, which dramatizes the landscape – I probably got the best part of 2,500 photos as I was so fascinated by how the light is constantly changing.’

The sun came back – or more accurately, rose – in mind February, but because Longyearbyen is in a valley, the sunlight doesn’t actually reach the town until March 8th. ‘Within six weeks you move straight through the return of the sun through to the midnight sun from April 18th. So you get long extended blue hours and the way the snow is affected by the refracted light across the valley is quite incredible. That is the one thing I would really draw me back. There light there is different to anything else I have seen.’

So what were the biggest lessons Graeme learned on this second trip in terms of his landscape photography? ‘You learn to look at lot more closely at the relationship between the sea and the land, and the constant movement between water, ice and snow,’ he explains. ‘I find it fascinating the way ice forms, particularly pancake ice. You see circles emerge as ice bashes off other pieces and is moved by waves. Both trips have made me pay more attention to processes in the landscape that are changing that landscape bit-by-bit and day-by-day. You can come back to the same place but light will be different, not to mention the structures you will be seeing in the ice and the snow too. This landscape really demands your close attention and I hope to take that concentration to other locations too.’

Here comes the sun
Now well known to the local community, Graeme also attended the annual festival to mark the return of the sun on March 4th. ‘There are competing stories about the ‘Sykehustrrapa’ – the (old) Hospital Steps where the community gathers to mark the return of the sun, and some discussion as to who rebuilt them after they were destroyed by German bombardment in WW2,’ he explains. ‘The first sunrise takes place in mid-February on Svalbard, but the mountains surrounding Longyearbyen shield the community from direct sunlight until the beginning of March, and the story goes that patients were wheeled out to greet it and so the hospital marks the point at which the sun’s return is heralded. In this version the steps were left to remain when the hospital was moved to the centre of town, both as a reminder and focus for this tradition.’

Local schoolchildren celebrate the return of the sun in early March

About Graeme Chesters
Graeme is a photographer and writer based in the North West. After 20 years working as an academic, including a stint as an associate professor at the University of Bradford, he is now working freelance on a variety of photographic and journalistic projects. Graeme is also a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographical Society. See graemechesters.com.

Further reading
Documenting climate change in one of the fastest-warming places on the planet
Recording the consequences of climate change
Why buying used camera gear is better for the natural world

There is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described.~Garry Winogrand¹

When looking for positive guidance from philosophy, we must rest content
with some vague generalizations about the need to be specific.~Alan Chalmers²

Do you really need a philosophy for your photography? Clearly not! We take photos all the time for all sorts of reasons, sometimes thinking about our technique but almost always without thinking about any philosophical implications. Indeed, philosophy is not very good at providing definite answers to the problems we encounter but can be good at defining the questions we need to think about. So, this might be a question worth thinking about if only because as, consciously or not, we develop a style of things we like to take photos of that might reflect a certain philosophy. Mostly, I suspect that amongst landscape photographers, this will be one of the varieties of realism ³, particularly if the things that we like to take photos of are those that reflect and record our experiences in the landscape. This recording of our experiences might be done for a variety of reasons: to provide income as a professional, in the hope of impressing our peers, or simply to record our personal experiences and life journey without necessarily being shown to others.

Do you really need a philosophy for your photography? Clearly not! We take photos all the time for all sorts of reasons, sometimes thinking about our technique but almost always without thinking about any philosophical implications.

Most of the well-known, more philosophical writers about photography (Susan Sontag, John Berger, etc) did not have too much to say about landscapes. Vilém Flusser, who wrote Thoughts on the Philosophy of Photography (1983), also hardly touches on landscape, even if his concept of differentiating informative from redundant images has only become more relevant in the digital age⁴. His idea that, as photographers, we are complicit supporters of the post-industrial economic complex is also still relevant, at least to those of us who suffer from that gear acquisition syndrome.

We can, of course, turn to Guy Tal and his recent series of philosophical On Landscape articles and his books More than a Rock and Another Day Not Wasted for more direct commentary on the act of photographing the landscape and living with nature as an artistic endeavour.

The primary reason to practice any art, in my opinion, is the subjective experience of the artist. Whether the resulting work falls into any greater philosophical framework, or whatever information it may contribute, can only be considered as measures of importance or validity in an objective, academic, or practical sense; but to find satisfaction in one’s work, to elevate (using Thoreau’s words) “the quality of the day,” and other subjective aspects that may arise from practicing photography or any other creative work, are more than sufficient justification for doing it.~Guy Tal, 2020 ⁵

A number of previous articles in On Landscape are relevant here, particularly those that discuss the nature of realism in photography ⁶. For many landscape photographers a certain degree of honesty or realism in the presentation of an image is important (hence the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, NPLA⁷ ). We can perhaps contrast this with landscape photography as a creative act where there is an active choice not to present an image in a realistic way. Some examples in photography are the use of photomontage (for example, David Hockney’s Joiner collages), extreme post-processing (colour saturation, HDR, time stacking, sky replacement, element removal etc), and the use of intentional camera movement. Such images can still have realistic elements (e.g. each of the images in a time stacked image or a Hockney joiner), but the philosophical aim is evidently not to be realistic but to provide an alternative artistic view of the world, to go beyond the limitations of the two dimensional view of an instantaneous single image. Hockney’s joiners, in particular, have resonance back to the cubist and conceptual artists at the start of the 20th Century (Braque, Picasso, Delaunay, Gris, Duchamp and others) who strived to move from a mimetic to an expressive art⁸. As David Hockney commented in 1982 before exhibiting his early joiner collages (a couple of the more landscape examples are included here):

Photography is all right if you don’t mind looking at the world
from the point of view of a paralyzed cyclops – for a split second.~David Hockney, 1982⁹

David Hockney, Pearblossom Hwy., 11-18th April 1986 No. 1

David Hockney, Merced River, Yosemite Valley, 1982

Of course, the boundary between these categories of realism and artistic expression is somewhat fluid. Take the simple case of a waterfall recorded using a shutter speed of ¼ second or longer¹⁰. The water becomes blurred. All the better to demonstrate the patterns of water flow perhaps, but we do not see water like that. It is not realistic in the sense of our experience; even if after long exposure (so to speak) to such images we understand what is going on and how it relates to the actual experience of water falling. It is already a creative interpretation, albeit surrounded by realistic renditions of the adjacent rocks and vegetation. This is a simple example of how a photograph can be a “noble lie”¹¹.

Of course, the boundary between these categories of realism and artistic expression is somewhat fluid. Take the simple case of a waterfall recorded using a shutter speed of ¼ second or longer. The water becomes blurred.

Blurred Water, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022 (f22, 1/15s)

We could take this example further. Let us say it is autumn and a selection of colourful leaves have fallen onto the rocks adjacent to the waterfall from the surrounding trees. We can then reflect on the opportunity to arrange those leaves in a pleasing pattern, giving prominence to the most colourful in the foreground, perhaps using tilt or focus stacking to get the depth of field required. The colours can be enhanced in camera by slight underexposure. We can, in fact, treat the composition like an artist as a still life – “improving” the arrangement and representation of the elements in the image. Everything in the image is “real” (as recorded in the RAW file); but much has already been manipulated It is perhaps a simple example of a “less-than-noble lie”. More extreme cases (such as sky replacement that is provided in several post-processing programmes now) might then be considered as “ignoble lies” (or, to many, perhaps the application of artistic license). A painter artist might traditionally have had more flexibility in choosing not to include everything in the scene, but even that is now less of an advantage with AI-aided element deletion. In viewing an image, it is sometimes possible to identify ignoble lies, but the degree of post-processing in the final image is not always obvious and might only be revealed by the meta-data or comparison with an original RAW file (hence the requirement to provide such files with submissions to the NPLA).

So are you a naïve realist?

In philosophy there are many forms of realism¹². The concept has been the subject of argument since the time of the Greek philosophers, notably Plato and Aristotle. Many well-known names have contributed to the debate about realism and, in particular, the potential differences between our experiential perception of objects as conditioned by the brain and the actual characteristics of those objects, what Kant referred to as the thing-in-itself (Das Ding an sich¹³). The fundamental problem of realism is that what we experience may not be the nature of reality. When viewing a rock in the landscape, we can experience that rock through our senses, but we cannot be sure that those sensations reveal the true nature of the rock, nor everyone will see the form and colours of that rock in the same way (and none of us see it in exactly the same way as recorded by a film of digital sensor)¹⁴.

Scientifically, of course, we can dig deeper. We can analyse the minerals and chemical composition of that rock and can infer things about its history using analyses of its isotopes, magnetic properties, thermoluminescence and surface lichen growth, but those inferences will still depend on the observational techniques available to us (which themselves depend on some theoretical constructs about the nature of matter that might be superseded in future).

The naïve realist will see a rock and not think anymore about it. It exists (at least in this realisation of the multiverse) and is there to be photographed in the landscape.

Going deeper still, we meet the limitations of understanding associated with the inherently uncertain sub-atomic quantum world. That need not concern us here; we can assume that the quantum probabilities are resolved in a way that reveals the apparently unchanging rock that we see before us (but at the quantum level, there may certainly be more to that rock than we currently understand).

The naïve realist will see a rock and not think anymore about it. It exists (at least in this realisation of the multiverse) and is there to be photographed in the landscape. There is certainly more to that rock as a thing-in-itself (or, alternatively, as an imperfect indication of its Platonic form if you prefer), but that is not really of concern, it can be experienced in the landscape and recorded in an image without worrying about any deeper nature.

The emotional response of a viewer to an image of that rock can certainly be conditioned on how it is represented (as in the examples of enhancing the colours of the leaves on it or blurring the water passing by it), but the means of the landscape photographer to influence that representation are certainly far more limited than other artists. The essence of the photographic image is that it remains realistic in some sense by recording the light that arrives from that rock and its surroundings in the landscape. Referring back to the quotation of Garry Winogrand, the fact of that rock is clearly described at the instant that the photograph is taken.

So where is the mystery? I think there are two philosophical aspects to that, ontological and aesthetic. The first is the deeper levels of understanding that might be associated with the nature of that rock. We have only one “fact” of that rock as we experience it (though if we stick around or return several times, the fact might be changing with light and season and it might even have rolled or moved), but there may be other characteristics that are beyond our perception (or that of our cameras). This is an ontological mystery (or potential possibility) for us as individuals. In recognising such possibilities, we need not be naïve realists in approaching the landscape; we can allow that there might be some deeper levels of understanding about the nature of a rock (or any other element of the landscape), even if they might not impact on the taking of an image as a record of our experience.

The second mystery concerns the aesthetic impact of an image. It is a mystery because the responses to an image can be highly personal and might be quite different for the photographer and the viewer(s). It necessarily contains a subjective element for each individual in terms of both beauty and emotional response¹⁵. What might be obvious for the photographer or one viewer might not be appreciated by another. There has been a long philosophical debate about the nature of beauty¹⁶ and how its appreciation has evolved in different societies (for example, the difference between classical beauty in the ancient world, the Impressionist reaction against the classical concept of beauty, and the quite different concept of wabi-sabi and the beauty of imperfections in Japan¹⁷).

The history of contemporary art (as in many other fields, including philosophy) suggests that individuals need to differentiate themselves in some way, but that not all will attract an audience¹⁹. However, a photograph of a rock does have a certain intrinsic interest in that it permits the question as to just why the photographer chose to frame that rock at that moment.

It is the aesthetic properties of an image that allows a rock to be more than a rock in quite a different way¹⁸. But while there are indeed very many photos of rocks, identifying those that are more than rocks is rather difficult since they all look like rocks. Of course, the concept of “more than” might only be a construct in the mind of the creative artist that need not be shared by the viewer. In creative photography, anything goes …. but anything might not necessarily evoke an emotional response from the viewer or gain an audience. The history of contemporary art (as in many other fields, including philosophy) suggests that individuals need to differentiate themselves in some way, but that not all will attract an audience¹⁹. However, a photograph of a rock does have a certain intrinsic interest in that it permits the question as to just why the photographer chose to frame that rock at that moment. It is, at least, more than any old rock in that sense, given value by the very act of what Barthes in Camera Lucida referred to as photography decreeing the “anything whatever” as notable²⁰.

A more recent work of David Hockney is interesting to consider in this context. It is enormous (3m x 5m) and has also been produced by the manipulation of multiple photographic images, including multiple framed iPad drawings of flowers that can be exhibited separately. The image is clearly intended to be “unrealistic”: the flowers are Hockneyesque in their abstraction and it includes two images of the artist himself on either side of the frame, in the same white cap and shoes but sitting in different chairs and wearing different suits. In an interview he comments “This is not an ordinary photograph [which cannot be] the ultimate depiction of reality: you have to look at these through time, unlike an ordinary photograph, which you see all at once.”²¹ As with the earlier joiner collages, the intention seems to be to break the barriers of the still image (albeit here rather simplistically, if on a grand scale). Landscape photographers have also creatively tried to express the passage of time, of course, through the means of time stacking over a day or through different seasons. Personally, I do not find such constructed images that convincing. The resulting artificiality seems to result in the whole detracting from the sum of its parts.

David Hockney, 25th June, 2022, Looking at the Flowers (Framed)

The view of a pragmatic realist

I suspect that this response on my part is perhaps because of my predilection and fascination with images of water. One of the particularly interesting aspect of Images of water is that they illustrate the potential for photos to be hyper-realistic in showing things in ways that the eye cannot see (see the pictures that follow). Freezing a water flow in time allows the eye to explore the complexity of a flow in ways that are not possible in “real time”. In the same way, we can explore the details of rocks, of mountains, of skies and of forest thickets by taking time for the eye to range across the image²². We can do the same with the Hockney (especially given its size) but somehow that is philosophically different: an exploration of the intentions of the artist rather than any impression of reality. In the landscape photograph we might wonder about the intentionality of the photographer, in choice of composition and execution, but what we generally explore is the semblance of the real. And we can view it with some heightened hyper-real sensibility, both as the image taker and as an image viewer.

Hyper-reality Abstract 1, Zinal, Switzerland, 2022

We might define such a position as pragmatic realism²³. It is an intention to convey the experience of a landscape while accepting that the impression conveyed can only be an approximation to the real;

an approximation that necessarily depends on the limitations of our experience in and personal understanding of the real landscape and the technical choices and limitations of the equipment we use. But while we might enhance an image in some way for aesthetic reasons (the particular choice of film, filter or shutter speed; some post-processing of digital files), for the pragmatic realist there needs to be an element of authenticity in representing the experience at the time of capture. I would suggest that there is intrinsic value and satisfaction to be gained in this noble approximation to the real. This is, I think, Tim Parkin’s position in his discussion of honesty in landscape images²⁴ and the position of the NPLA in which what is realistic (the “natural”) is effectively defined by what is considered as unacceptable and rejected (as referred to as the “ignoble lies” earlier).

I am happy to be a pragmatic realist. I find that there is enough fun, challenge, and reward in recording experiences in the form of noble lies without excessive manipulation. This does not preclude, of course, different philosophies, including more creative approaches to photography, such as the example Hockneys shown above. This might be as simple as a choice of film (Kodak Aerochrome, anyone?), or filter (CPL? Graduated Tobacco? 720 nm Infrared?) or some of the more extreme post-processing methods mentioned earlier. Artistically we can allow that anything goes (and need not be “ignoble” in intent) – but with a quite different philosophy of image making. Not better, or worse, but different. So perhaps you do need a philosophy for your photography (or two) after all…..

Hyper-reality Abstract 2, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022

Hyper-reality Abstract 3, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022

Hyper-reality Abstract 4, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022

Hyper-reality Abstract 5, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022

Hyper-reality Abstract 6, Gérine, Switzerland, 2022

Hyper-reality Abstract 7, Hauterive, Switzerland, 2021

References

1. Quoted in The Man in the Crowd p.157. Patricia Bosworth in Diane Arbus: A Biography also quotes the photographer Lisette Model (1901-1983) as saying “The most mysterious thing is a fact clearly stated” p.187. There may well be earlier statements of the same aphorism.
2. Chalmers, A. 1989 Is Bhaskar’s realism realistic? Radical Phil. 49, 18–23. (P23).
3. Despite the arguments to the contrary – see for example most recently Guy Tal’s article https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/10/the-straight-handicap/.
4. See https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2020/06/landscape-and-the-philosophers-of-photography/
5. Guy Tal in a comment on https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2020/06/landscape-and-the-philosophers-of-photography/
6. See Guy Tal, https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2018/04/morality-realism-photography/, the response by Tim Parkin at https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2018/07/realism-and-honesty-in-photography/ and the comments that both articles inspired. Also, Guy Tal’s series of philosophical articles:
   https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2021/12/disinterested-interest/,
   https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/06/transcendent-forms-and-noble-lies/,
   https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/08/existence-precedes-essence/.
   Also my own https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2019/10/creation-passing-ducks-representation-reality/ .
7. See https://naturallandscapeawards.com
8. There is an interesting discussion of the late 19th Century origins of conceptual art in the recent book by Michel Onfrey, Les Anartistes (Editions Albin Michel, 2022), where he recounts the history of a group of artists in France known as Les Incohérents (Jules Levy, Paul Bilhaud, Alphonse Allais, and others including the pseudonymous, Dada) some 20 years or more before Cubism, the Black square of Maleovich, the urinal of Duchamp.and the Dadaists. Alphonse Allais even published a piece of silent music in 1897 (Marche Funèbre composée pour les funéreilles d;un grand homme sourd – Funeral March composed for the funeral of a great deaf man) some 55 years before the famous piece 4’33” of John Cage.
9. Quoted in the Daily Art Magazine, https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/david-hockney-photographs/, 26th June 2022
10. Ansel Adams did not generally approve of the use of such longer shutter speeds in the representation of water, but suggested speeds of 1/250 sec or shorter so that some of the structure of the flow could be seen. It is not always evident that he followed his own advice.
11. See the Guy Tal article https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/06/transcendent-forms-and-noble-lies/
12. For example, Metaphysical realism, Immanent realism, Positivism, Idealism, different varieties of Transcendental realism, Structural realism, Pragmatic realism, and Speculative realism. We should expect nothing less, since even philosophers have to make careers and reputations, so they need to differentiate themselves from what has gone before.
13. See the recent articles by Guy Tal, https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/06/transcendent-forms-and-noble-lies/.
14. Bertrand Russell illustrates this Kantian concept with the thought experiment if everyone was born with blue coloured spectacles. We would all still see a rock, but the thinking philosopher might recognise that we might not perceive the true essence of that rock.
15. Though we can now learn how to create mood in our photographs in less than 5 minutes … see https://fstoppers.com/lightroom/how-master-mood-landscape-photography-under-5-minutes-618467
16. See https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2021/12/disinterested-interest/ and the discussion that follows
17. It seems that wabi-sabi photography can also be considered as a genre, see https://www.discoverdigitalphotography.com/2016/wabi-sabi-photography-the-art-of-the-imperfect/
18. From the quotation of Edward Weston: “This then: to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock.”. See also Guy Tal’s book More than a Rock, Rocky Nook, 2nd Edition.
19. What becomes famous might depend on circumstances, analogous to the Black Swans in the financial world, including hedge fund managers, discussed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (see also his book Skin in the Game). Certainly I have friends who are very talented artists but who have not had the success that perhaps they deserve.
20. See again https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2019/10/creation-passing-ducks-representation-reality/.
21. See https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/08/david-hockney-new-5-metre-digital-artwork-self-portrait
22. There are other ways in which photography can be hyper-realist, notably in the macro and microscopic domains, and also in the domain of astrophysics with the Hubble, James Webb and soon to be launched Euclid satellites. The latter will have the largest digital camera ever constructed for a space mission and will be in orbit some 1.5 million km from Earth – see article of 25th September 2022 at https://blog.insolublepancake.org
23. I have discussed the problems of pragmatic realism in the context of my professional sphere of environmental modelling in the 2002 article in the Proceedings of the Royal Society https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspa.2002.0986
    See Tim’s article at https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2018/07/realism-and-honesty-in-photography/