Improving Mountain Photography (3) Thursday August 21, 2008
In my two previous articles I described a typical day walking in the mountains and how to pursue mountain photography, and provided a detailed account of photographing a specific location. I will continue now with some general aesthetic points about mountain photography, and how to improve it.
An American photographer called George Barr suggests there are seven levels to consider when we judge a photograph. The schema he offers refers to what are I suspect recognisable experiences, when people view their images on the computer or, less commonly now, when returned from the processing lab. This seven stage model can be extrapolated and made applicable to wider photography, but in this article I apply it to the mountain environment.
1. Photographs don’t have an obvious concept and fail as snapshots
This applies to all kinds of photography, whether domestic family shots or more specialist, hobby subjects. Outdoors environments are perhaps especially prone to this failing, because of the disparity between the following:
The pleasure and delight of being in a mountain landscape
Translating that into an effective image
These two are related, but the second does not automatically follow from the first because the experience we feel on a mountain exists regardless of and irrespective of the parameters of accomplished photography. What commonly happens is we feel marvellous and take a quick snap of the wonderful scenery of that moment thinking it records it, but that’s not enough. This is the explanation for images that disappoint.
It’s useful sometimes to consider a photograph as a concept: what is the idea, or concept, it expresses? And very often, the concept needs clarifying which typically involves removing extraneous information ie simplifying the composition.
2. Acceptable snapshots
These images have a clearer concept, for example not just of a random panorama but perhaps a mountain cairn or a small tarn, with a distant backdrop of receding peaks. These photographs are a refinement of the first type; though they might involve only minimal photographic skill the pictorial possibility is such that almost anyone can get a half decent image.
3. Friends admire your photographs
Photography is one of the biggest hobbies in the world, and there are many accomplished amateurs happily pursuing their craft and getting good results then admired by their friends. This third stage is a transition from more personally satisfying work to that which others also recognise and appreciate. The first time you climb Scafell Pike, almost any photograph of the summit will give you pleasure but it may or may not interest anyone else in purely photographic terms. This is the phenomenon of the holiday slideshow that bores everyone else but entertains the photographer, and it is not unique to photography. With creative writing for example there is a difference between personally satisfying work, and that which other people respond to and find interesting. One way of understanding this is in terms of narrative meaning: in both writing and photography, the story you tell needs to have general or universal interest. The mountain situation is a specialist interest for hikers and outdoor types, there’s no avoiding that fact, but this is transcended when you make a compelling and beautiful image recognisable on those terms.
4. Photographs begin to have artistic value
This follows from the third stage, making a further transition from friends appreciating your work to the possibility of a still wider audience and, perhaps, what we call ‘art’.
5. Images are generally accomplished; other photographers admire them and find them instructive
Formal qualities such as composition have been thoroughly understood, and you have an interesting subject. However, you still see a difference between your work and that of the recognised leaders in the field; in the case of mountain photography that might be for example Ansel Adams or the contemporary work of Colin Prior. There is something missing in your photograph, that might be described as the power to evoke an emotional response. It is technically and formally accomplished, but not especially memorable.
6. Strong images generating emotional response
At this stage you no longer have doubts about your ability, and your perception of yourself as an ‘artist’. You will be concerned with deepening, refining and expanding your work along certain lines. Susan Sontag once said the hallmark of a successful photographer is specialisation, i.e. having a particular topic, theme or subject you constantly pursue. This could be a photographic genre like landscape or portraiture, or it could be a sociological theme seen for example in the work of Diane Arbus.
In the case of mountain photography, you find your interest in the subject solidifies and deepens and the walking you undertake is not only for the pleasure of walking: you might go to specific places, at specific times of the day or year, to get the photographs you want. There are still technical factors to this, most importantly the skilful perception and capture of light to create drama and narrative, but they are subservient to a well-practiced artistry.
7. Great and historic images
This final stage is the photograph that almost everyone responds to, admires, and remembers. It captures something powerful and enduring about human experience, immediately obvious to everyone. Such images are exceptional and relatively rare; they will typically include the element of chance, captured with refined photographic skill, expressing the power of nature evident in the former with the craft of the latter.
Photographing the Lake District
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