Mountain Photography: Advice Monday August 20, 2007
Mountain photography seems a daunting activity, with so much to think about. First, there’s the mountains: big scary things where you can get hurt. Second, there’s photography which is all a bit complicated…isn’t it? Yes and no. And yes and no also, on the dangers of mountains.
As with so many things, mountain photography largely rests on experience. If you’ve never wandered the high places before, you are apprehensive – and rightly so. Even in Britain, where the peaks are relatively small, you still need caution. It basically comes down to a few vital factors: clothing, navigation, and supplies. I’ll deal with those in a moment, after I address the subject of photography.
Equipment, Digital or Film
This is still being debated, although much of the concerns of a few years ago have gone. The best, latest digital SLRs compare well to film and even exceed its quality. Most expensive of all, the Canon 1DS has, according to landscape photographer Colin Prior, the same quality as medium format film – quite an achievement, but at a price.
It’s really not complicated; there are advantages and disadvantages to both and I favour digital cameras because I like having full control i.e. making use of Photoshop much like a darkroom, using files straight out of a camera. And having a live view on the LCD is, even if you’re experienced (Colin Prior agrees with this), a massive advantage especially when you use the histogram. Light, especially mountain light, is subtle and very tricky to photograph.
Disadvantages? Battery life, and problems of limited dynamic range though you can (and should) carry spare batteries, there are good work-arounds for the latter and it’s an exaggerated issue only important for more extreme lighting situations. 90% of the time I find a digital sensor perfectly adequate, and when I add to that the other advantages of digital, the scales rise sharply in its favour.
General reliability in adverse and cold conditions is perhaps a greater concern and I wouldn’t want to carry what is, effectively, a mini computer up Mount Everest and rely on it functioning. The issue then is: how extreme is your mountain walking? I took my Canon 5D to the Swiss Alps, and in all respects it was just fine, though it was more of a touristy trip than any wild adventure.
What you buy depends on budget and needs and the more you pay the better, but it’s a waste to get a Canon 1DS if all you do is post images on your web site or print A4 pictures. If you want to build up professional stock images or use your photography for publication there’s a minimal level of quality you will need but it’s quite possible, to stay with the same notable example, a Canon 1DS would exceed that. And – the other important factor when you go walking – it’s a very heavy camera to carry. The Canon 1DS Mark II is 16 million pixels, the 5D 12 million. It’s not a big difference but the the size, weight (and cost) of the two cameras certainly is. The new Mark III is 22 million pixels which is a substantial difference but again, it’s balanced against the size and weight of it.
Finally, you need to consider lenses and the general advice there is move towards wide angle. I use a Canon 17-40 L for 90% of the time so that’s mostly all I need to carry. This is not a rule, but if you look at accomplished mountain and landscape photography you will find it’s a general trend. I’m not a gear freak, and prefer a minimalist attitude to photography especially when I’m carrying it up thousands of feet.
Composition and Light
It’s impossible to do justice to these subjects in writing, it’s partly a matter of instinct, and some people have it and some don’t. I can’t play football, but I can take good photographs and know what they are based on. But some indications are possible, and words like ‘balance’ and ‘proportion’ are useful to reflect on. Simple is better than complicated, the impression of scale and depth is usually (but not always) better than flat and light, always, is the deciding factor on whether a scene is worth photographing or not. An identical view can be dull and boring on an overcast day, beautiful in autumn or spring sunlight, and maybe at its best under snow when the skies are blue. The most spectacular view is ruined in bad light. Think of it as a beautiful model: if you don’t light her properly, you can make her look dull and unattractive.
For this reason, you constantly have to be aware of the light and to some extent plan your days accordingly. In one of WE Poucher’s books on the Lake District (he was roughly contemporary to Alfred Wainwright) he lists the best places and times to photograph. It was a bit extreme to do that, because light is not so predictable: for example a stormy sky can give fantastic light at any time of the day and year. There are however, some general points to think about like where and when the sun will set and the fact that early and late in the day are almost invariably the best times for photography: the colour temperature is warm, and the side-light enhances contours and shadows.
Clothing
Appropriately warm and waterproof sums it up and being prepared for the contingent worst, although with experience on warm settled UK days you can carry very little. In summer I often wear an old cotton shirt and zip-off shorts, and pack a lightweight Gore-Tex jacket and nothing more. Wicking fabrics are more important, even vital in winter, when perspiration and wind chill are a serious recipe for hypothermia. In summer though some coolness is welcome, I hate the synthetic fabrics unless you really need them, and I don’t care for paying for trendy outdoor labels with not so trendy prices.
I also have my own ideas about footwear. I’m a lightweight enthusiast, having started many years ago with heavy Scarpas then one day dared to use lighter boots, then sandals, and found they suited me very well. I’ve currently got some rugged Merrell sports sandals and wear them without socks finding them secure, cool, agile and wonderfully comfortable for a large part of the year. If you forget what’s on your feet, and I do, that’s the best thing ever. I recall a very hot day when I once pulled on thick socks and the trusty Scarpas, before going up Grasmoor. And in the car, I was hot and wearing sandals! – madness. However if you’re not steady on your feet (and I can testify to how nasty a sprained anke is, taking 6 months to fully heal), you may feel the need for heavy clumpy boots. Only you can judge though I recommend you consider lightweight footwear because heavy boots have undoubtedly for many years been an assumption, a trend, and there’s a massive price to pay in terms of comfort, agility and effort: carrying weight on your feet, especially going up and downhill, is like extra weight in your rucksack.
Navigation
Quite tricky, this. And I must admit, I’m no expert. I used to carry guide books into the hills, then maps and compass only, and now in the Lake District usually just have a compass. In mist, my map skills are just not up to it. And in clear conditions, I know my way around very well. In mist, I also rely on knowing the way which is usually OK (for me), though I know in unfamiliar terrain it’s very easy to get lost – I’ve done it. GPS is another subject and I can’t comment on its benefits being averse to implementing another electronic device in my life, in the one activity where I want most freedom from such things. Going abroad I can see its advantages, but can’t help feeling it will change a landscape experience into some kind of video game adventure.
Other than using GPS, it’s a question of practice. I practiced by going into the hills and walking, finding my way by trial and error initially with either map or book, but getting familiar with the hills over a period of years. It can be scary, not knowing your way round a mountain landscape and if your route ahead is safe and correct. It’s a long time since I’ve felt that fear in the Lake District, parts of Wales are quite familiar to me, but other areas and abroad it’s a different proposition and there’s always a slight risk. The last unpleasant experience I had was coming down from the Cnicht area in Wales, in complete darkness, knowing my direction but having to crash through heather, across rocks, bogs and pools, taking about 2 hours until I reached a track I knew I would eventually, taking me back to my car. Though that was caused by the over enthusiasm of staying too long in the hills, and the mistaken notion that crossing wild ground would be OK as I’ve done before in the Lakes – but below Cnicht it’s very rough ground, and I was in total evening darkness. Grim.
Supplies
Food and water. I tend to be very basic here, keeping both fairly minimal and the former unexciting not because I don’t enjoy food but because I can’t be bothered with all the effort to buy, prepare, and pack it. There are vegetarian items I rely on repeatedly like plastic-packet soup which is so thick it’s almost pate, providing nice moist protein combined with a lump of carbohydrate bread. If you’re in Britain I recommend firstly the soups produced by a company called Seeds Of Change, and secondly buying them from Asda. In most places, packets cost more than £1.50. In Asda, one of them at least is just £1 – a massive difference that warms my heart, as a triumph over exploitative commercialism and Rip Off UK. Yes, Asda has a big advantage in terms of bulk stock purchase, though that doesn’t account for all of their good value: their stores are effectively huge warehouses, with minimal running cost, which suits me just fine. I don’t want a fancy “shopping experience”, I just want to buy stuff and then get the hell out, preferably into the hills…
I sometimes don’t drink enough, I admit, preferring to rehydrate in the evening rather than carry heavy water. Not the usual advice you get, but it works for me. For much of the time in the Lakes though, I drink adequately from streams and know where they are to do that – very convenient. It needs a little judgement on what not to drink, but the rules are simple: not too low down on the hills, not if it’s still and unmoving, not if sheep are nearby. I’ve never been ill, though I was once horrified after quenching my thirst to see, just slightly upstream, the river bed was covered in foul gelatinous brown algae. I still don’t know why it was there, I’ve never seen anything like it; maybe the result of agricultural chemicals. And another time, I momentarily considered a drink from a Wasdale river I’d not seen before, and was grimly satisfied I’d decided not to when I reurned the same way to see a herd of cows using it like a latrine. Rule? Ask yourself, is this so low in the valley that cows could graze there.
But that’s it, pretty much. The next day, after drinking from the algae river, I was perfectly OK but it was another hard-won lesson: Confucius say, if river meanders round corner, check out river before drinking it and verily, thou shalt enjoy a comfortably settled day.
Comment
Hi James,
Thanks for the informative and accurate post. As a photographer who shoots quite extensively on Everest and in the Himalaya, it is good to see someone writing about gear in mountainous locales.
FWIW, in my shoots on Everest 1999-present, I have used (I am a Nikon shooter) the following:
- Nikon 5005 – Nikon N70 – Nikon N80 – Nikon F5 – Nikon D1H – Nikon D100 – Nikon D200
In all respects, the cameras functioned quite well. The only exception was the D1H, with which I had significant problems with the batteries on summit day in 2002. Managed to make it work, but not without quite a bit of stress.
The D100 and D200, however, have performed extremely well in the cold with never a problem for me (knock on wood).
Anyway, thanks again for your post, and keep up the great work!
Best,
Jake Norton
MountainWorld Productions
www.mountainworldproductions.com
— Jake Norton · Aug 20, 09:34 PM · §
Hey thanks for the remarks Jake.
Personal experience of digital gear in the Himalayas – very interesting.
I must admit I hate the prospect of being dependent on electronic equipment which needs power, in remote places which you simply cannot afford to miss, photographically speaking. So what I said above is more my concerns, than any actual experience which you clearly have. Very interesting, thanks.
How do you deal with the power question though? – presumably you carry lots of charged-up batteries, but what about access to electricity in for example Kathmandu before you set off? And do the high altitude base camps make use of solar power?
— James Lomax · Aug 20, 11:14 PM · §
Nice post, James. I really enjoy your style. BTW, I run a big Article Directory and if you have some articles about photography for distribution, you are very welcome to post them in the appropriate category.
All the best,
Alex
http://www.wowarticlesonline.com
— Alex · Aug 21, 04:41 PM · §
Thanks Alex…
— James Lomax · Aug 21, 09:08 PM · §