RPS Landscape Group Magazine - Winter 2021/22

Landscape THE MAGAZINE OF THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY LANDSCAPE GROUP

Winter 2021/22

THE ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

RPS LANDSCAPE GROUP

RPS House, 337 Paintworks, Arnos Vale, Bristol, BS4 3AR, UK rps.org Incorporated by Royal Charter

Editor Robert Brittle ARPS Assistant Editor Gaynor Davies ARPS Layout and Artwork Paul Cayton

Patron HRH THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE President and Chair of Trustees SIMON HILL FRPS Chief Executive Officer EVAN DAWSON Hon Treasurer POSITION VACANT

Committee Richard Ellis ARPS (Chair) Sue Wright (Web Editor) Peter Fortune (Newsletter Editor) Andy McLaughlin (Secretary) Mark Reeves ARPS (Vice-Chair and Pro-Events Manager) Diana Wynn (Treasurer) Dave Glenn (Member-Led Events Manager) Robert Brittle ARPS (Magazine Editor) Fiona McCowan FRPS (Member Without Portfolio)

Please send contributions to landscapemagazine@rps.org COVER IMAGES: FRONT: “Tryfan” by Adrian Gidney FRPS. Canon EOS R6 ISO 400, f8, 1/4sec, 14mm, 3 shots bracketed, tripod.

BACK: “Milky Way over Clavell Tower” by Robert Harvey ARPS. Canon EOS 5D MK IV and Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8 lens.

47 light frames and 8 dark frames each of 20 seconds at f/2 and ISO 6400

Landscape is the magazine of the RPS Landscape Group and is provided as part of the annual subscription to the Group. © 2022 The Royal Photographic Society All rights reserved on behalf of the contributors and authors.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Requests for such permission must be addressed to the Editor.

The Royal Photographic Society, RPS Landscape Group and the Editor accept no liability for any misuse or breach of copyright by a contributor.

The views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Royal Photographic Society or of the Landscape group.

Printed and Published on behalf of The Royal Photographic Society by Henry Ling Ltd., The Dorset Press, Dorchester, DT1 1TD.

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Landscape Magazine Winter 2021/22

Contents Regulars 4. Editorial 5. Musings from the chair 6. Inspirational Places

Distinction Successes 20. Lin Gregory ARPS

Between Land and Sea is a special place.

30. Steve Hunter FRPS

The Orient holds a special fascination and Hokkaido in winter is something special.

40. Fiona McCowan FRPS

By the sea is somewhere Fiona feels at home. Fiona converted these feelings into a fine art project and book.

Featured Photographers 8. Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin

Cityscapes of the USA are the subject of a showcase

by Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin.

14. Richard Revels FRPS The Falkland Islands are a place of spectacular landscapes and wildlife.

50. Robert Harvey ARPS

Photographing at night, combined with a dramatic landscape, is Robert’s passion.

58. Adrian Gidney FRPS

New kit, new ideas - Adrian explains more.

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Welcome Welcome to Landscape;

the magazine of the RPS Landscape Group.

Welcome to the Winter 2021/2022 issue of the group’s magazine. Winter seems to have crept up on us this year; it doesn’t seem like five minutes since I was enjoying the summer sun. It is with great pleasure that, in this issue, we continue to feature recent landscape distinctions award recipients; these very talented photographers have, in 2021, received Distinctions, all taking different approaches to not only the photographs they took, but also how these stunning images were submitted for judging. Hopefully their journey to success will inspire other members to think about their next steps on the distinctions journey.

New and upcoming talent is always interesting to showcase in the magazine and the cityscapes of the USA are the inspiration behind Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin’s recent project, documenting the locations that are significant in his photographic journey. We gaze at the night skies with Robert Harvey ARPS, who gives

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us a glimpse into the technically challenging aspects of capturing stunning images of the night’s sky.

The Falkland Islands are a far-flung location for most of us; Richard Revels FRPS took the opportunity to visit the islands and has been kind enough to share his images with us and explain some of the background to them.

Finally, but by no means least in this issue, is regular contributor Adrian Gidney FRPS, whose purchase of some new kit took him not only by surprise, but also led him to reconsider his image-making, in light of newer, lighter equipment that is now available from manufacturers.

From the Editorial Team, we hope you had a great Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to 2022 as much as we all are. Hopefully we’ll be able to feature some great images taken in 2022 in the next few issues.

Next copy date is 15th March 2022.

The Editorial Team

If any reader would like to contribute to the next issue of the group’s magazine, please get in touch. To date, everyone who has been in touch has been published.

Please don’t be worried about the technical elements of sending text and images, as we will happily guide you through the process.

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Musings from The Chair Chair’s Welcome

Richard Ellis ARPS, Chair, RPS Landscape SIG

By the time you read this, Christmas will have been and gone and we will be into 2022. It is not yet clear what the impact of the Omicron variant will be on our activities but the committee has planned a wide and varied programme. Our plan is to have a touring exhibition of members’ work during the year, as well as a portfolio project. This will look at producing a series of images capturing the seasons’ changes at a location close to your home.

Further details will be in the newsletter.

In March 2022 we will have our AGM via Zoom which will be a chance to look back on the programme of 2021, as well as to look forward to new initiatives.

The AGM will also feature two speakers and we hope that you will all be able to join us. In 2023 we plan to have a physical meeting in Harrogate so please save 3rd-5th March 2023 in your calendars.

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Without wishing to preempt my AGM presentation, I think 2021 will go down as another successful year in the short history of the group. We have delivered an exciting online and in-person programme, our finances are robust and we have provided many opportunities for members to work together and see one another’s images. None of this would be possible without the dedication and hard work of the committee and to each and every one of them we owe a debt of gratitude. It has been a pleasure to lead such a hardworking and talented group.

I hope that you all will go out and enjoy the photographic opportunities of late winter and spring.

Best wishes Richard

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Inspirational Places

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Steve Hunter FRPS Visiting Hokkaido in winter left a deep emotional impression on Steve.

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Featured Photographer

Kwasi Boyd-Bouldin Kwasi has, for the past 15 years, been focused on documenting the changing neighbourhoods of his native Los Angeles.

The exponential increase in the redevelopment of the urban landscape wiped out much of what made parts of the city so special.

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Los Angeles (above).

Austin (below).

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For the past 15 years, my photography has been focused on documenting the changing neighbourhoods of my native Los Angeles. The exponential increase in redevelopment and gentrification at the time was changing the urban landscape at an unprecedented rate, wiping out much of what made parts of the city so special.

During this period I gained a profound appreciation for the often overlooked details of everyday life that give these spaces their identity. New American Landscapes is a street-level examination of the American city. Over the past 5 years I have had the opportunity to apply this approach to several new cities in addition to Los Angeles, such as New Orleans, the Cambridge/Boston area, and Austin, Texas. Incorporating these locations into my work changed the context considerably, resulting in a collection of photographs focusing on how a neighbourhood’s structural composition shapes the lives of those who live there.

New Orleans

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Los Angeles (above).

Los Angeles (below).

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Cambridge (above).

New Orleans (below).

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Austin (above).

New Orleans (below).

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Featured Photographer

Richard Revels FRPS Richard’s main interest is usually the wildlife of the places he visits but he does, however, also like to take plenty of general views and landscape pictures. On the following pages we showcase some of those amazing images from a far-off place.

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The view of the capital of the Falklands, Stanley, from a FIGAS plane shortly after taking off from Stanley Airport.

If you have a window seat, select the cleanest area of glass in the window and take a number of pictures, as you may not get another chance.

I doubt if many RPS Landscape Group (LG) members have travelled to the Falkland Islands with their main objective being to take landscape pictures of those wonderfully wild groups of islands.

There are, however, plenty of wildlife photographers I know who have made visits to photograph the wildlife there, with some pictures winning awards in various international exhibitions. While my main interest is usually the wildlife of most places I visit, I do however also like to take plenty of general views and landscape pictures so that, after returning home, I have a good range of pictures of each location visited for my photo library, that are available for printing, publishing, and inclusion in my digital shows.

So I regard the landscape pictures that accompany this article as mostly decent record shots of the Falklands, rather than classic landscape pictures. However, having seen my pictures, I hope that some LG members will be tempted to make a visit (when Covid-19 restrictions allow) to these wonderfully wild islands and, if visiting landscape photographers put in the time, I am sure that they will get some stunning pictures of the Falklands

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that will grace the pages of the Landscape Group magazine for years to come.

Visiting the Falkland Islands is not as easy as going to most destinations, as flights there, and also the accommodation, are very limited, so you will need to book well in advance. The Falklands are about 8,000 miles away in the South Atlantic, some 250 miles off the east coast of Argentina, South America. About 240 separate islands of varying sizes make up the two main island groups of East and West Falklands, with the capital Stanley and the main airport at Mount Pleasant being on the Eastern mainland.

A number of the larger islands have farms that have accommodation for visitors and, once the Coronavirus restrictions have eased, I am sure that fully-vaccinated visitors will be made very welcome, as during recent decades the income from visiting photographers has been a welcome addition to their income. My main reason for visiting the Falklands has always been to photograph the wildlife and that will differ slightly from island to island, depending on the terrain and if the island has any rats that arrived on

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A rookery of Rockhopper Penguins and King Cormorants on Saunders Island, showing both the birds and the habitat in the landscape picture (above).

A view along the coast of Carcass Island showing lichen covered rocks on a sunny day, making it a colourful sight.

Carcass is one of the most attractive islands I have visited.

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board the ships with the early sailors. Rat-free islands will have many more small birds nesting on them and efforts are being made to eradicate the alien rat populations on all islands.

I have always travelled there by plane from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, with the flight taking about 18 hours to reach Mount Pleasant airport on the Falklands. En route, there will be a refuelling stop of about 2 hours on Ascension Island in the mid-Atlantic and, although there is little opportunity for photography during that short stop, it is, for me, a very welcome break, where refreshments and other items may be purchased and some exercise taken, in an otherwise rather long and uninteresting journey that is mostly over the sea.

After landing at Mount Pleasant airport and collecting our luggage and getting through customs, we are bussed into Stanley some 20 or so miles away, where we are dropped off at our hotel. After booking in and freshening up, there’s usually time for a walk either around town or along the waterfront before the evening meal. The following morning, after an early breakfast, we are again picked up by minibus and taken to Stanley airport, which is on the outskirts of town, where, after checking in, we fly off in a small FIGAS Islander plane to whatever island we are staying on for the next few days. These FIGAS planes are the main means of travelling from island

to island and, if you can get a window seat, there’s a good opportunity of photographing the islands from the air as you travel to each location so I always have my camera ready and try to get a window seat when boarding the plane.

While the weather there can be rather windy, on my visits it’s usually been fairly dry, with often good sunny spells and some days there is hardly a cloud in the sky. However, on other days it can be very changeable and it is capable of producing all four seasons in a single day, with usually brief, but often heavy, showers of rain, hail and even snow passing over the island. So taking waterproofs with you is advisable if walking any distance from shelter and, with the ozone layer still rather thin over that part of the globe, it is best to cover all exposed skin with sunblock.

My first visit to the Falklands was in November 2003, when I joined a wildlife photography tour run by David Osborn FRPS and his sister Dawn Osborn (also now FRPS). They led two groups of five or six photographers to various islands and visits were also made to one or two mainland locations after returning to our hotel in Stanley, a day or two before the flight back to the UK was due. David had visited the Falklands several times before so knew many of the best ‘hot spots’ for the wildlife and he, of course, had also arranged all

7 – Through Heath TheImage remaining posts of the an old jetty on Carcass Island seen in this picture had gone when I returned the following year.

Like many other alien plants, the yellow flowers of European Gorse have spread from where they were first planted and are taking over the part of the hillside.

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the accommodation, catering and transport to each location. Falkland Holidays can also arrange your visit for you if you wish, including all flights, for a small fee.

With the Falklands being a British Protectorate, you can spend your UK money in all the shops and, should it be needed, the National Health Service is also there, including a hospital in Stanley. I enjoyed my first visit so much that, despite the high cost of travel, I have returned there three more times and, on every visit, the wildlife and lighting differ slightly and I always end up with plenty of good new pictures. One thing that is beyond all photographers’ control is the weather at the time of the visit and, while some photographers take pictures in all but the worst weather, others prefer not to venture out when conditions become unpleasant but, usually, after a few hours, the weather settles down.

Although the wildlife of each location will be my main photographic target, I am always on the lookout for good seascapes, landscapes and general pictures, as they all help to chronicle my stay, with rain, snow, hail, fog and wind all being as much part of my visit as calm sunny days.

Staying on an island for several days allows visitors time to get to know each location, so I make mental notes of areas that I can return to

at a different time of the day that will allow me to get pictures in different lighting conditions. One thing to bear in mind is, when visiting the southern hemisphere, the sun will be in the north at mid-day and that caught me out for a while on my first visit down south. Although rivers were lacking on the islands I have visited, there are ponds of varying sizes on most of the larger islands and the coastal areas are very varied, with often colourful lichens covering many of the rocks. Some islands also have areas of sandy beaches, including some with white shell sand and most coastal areas are very photogenic in good lighting conditions.

With few people visiting the Falklands to take landscape pictures, any member of the Landscape Group who wants to visit somewhere very different from the usual places should be able to get a bucketful of excellent landscape and seascape pictures; that is, if they don’t get too distracted by the wildlife! Some, I expect, will end up with a selection of better landscape pictures than I have managed on my visits. With the varied features and nature of each island, I am sure that some LG members who wish to get an RPS Distinction could get all the pictures needed to make up a successful RPS Associateship or Fellowship panel on the Falklands.

Besides being on Carcass Island as shown here below, there are white shell-sand beaches and dunes on several other islands.

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While travelling by car. we encountered a Stone run and stopped for a while to take pictures from the ground.

These broken rocks come from quartzite ridges on top of hills and mountains. Plant growth along these slowly moving rocks is limited to a few species.

At this point I should point out that the Falklands are a place that you will either love or hate and any unenthusiastic partner who is “dragged along” when the weather becomes unpleasant for a while may become rather unhappy. However for photographers who love to explore wild “off-thebeaten-track” places, where other humans are few and far between, the scenery and wildlife can be out of the top drawer. When travelling in the more remote areas it would always be advisable to go with a colleague who will be somewhere in the vicinity in case of injury, as on some islands you may not get a signal for your mobile phone (or you could not when I was last there), should you need to call for help.

After every one of my visits I leave with the intention of returning again to photograph and enjoy the wonderful wildlife and views.

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Sometimes I am asked what my favourite image of the Falklands is and, if I have to choose a general view (rather than wildlife), it would be the sunset over a whale skeleton taken on Bleaker Island.

This is a very sad reminder of the past, when the Falklands were a major whaling station and many tens of thousands of whales that had been killed at sea were brought there to be ‘processed’ for their meat, oil and blubber. I have no idea how that whale skeleton came to be there. Thankfully the widespread slaughter of whales stopped many decades ago.

Richard Revels FRPS

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Distinction Success

Lin Gregory ARPS Lin’s journey to an ARPS distinction has been a long one – 30 years to be precise from the time she was awarded an LRPS in 1991.

Work and life changes put her photographic pursuits on hold until 2005, when relocation to the Sussex coast rapidly reinvigorated her love of landscape photography and her connection to the land and sea. In this article we follow Lin’s journey to success.

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My journey to the ARPS has been a long one – 30 years to be precise from the time I was awarded an LRPS in 1991. Work and life changes put my photographic pursuits on hold until 2005, when relocation to the Sussex coast rapidly reinvigorated my love of landscape photography and my connection to the land and sea.

I soon found that walking the coastal paths whilst contemplating the sea and the structures along the way was a wonderful way to practice mindfulness and find inner calm. When Hastings Pier became the subject of an arson attack in 2010 it led me to consider the fragility and impermanence of many other focal points and structures along this part of the coast that I had grown to love – and so a new creative project was born.

When formulating the project I limited the range to the East Sussex coast, planning and walking the various areas that I wanted to include. I decided early on that using long exposures would help to express my inner connection to each scene, as well as create a consistency in the style that would bring the images together as a coherent sequence. The

resultant images were taken over a time span of seven years. I was fortunate that some of the early work was seen by Antony Penrose from the Lee Miller Archives and subsequently I was invited to exhibit it at Farley’s Gallery where it was hung in sequence from east to west of the county.

At the start of 2020 I put the project together in book format, with the intention of applying for a distinction, sequencing the images as I had for the exhibition, to mirror my journey along the coast. I had a shortlist of around 50 images that I culled to 38 for inclusion in the book by laying out 6x4 prints in sequence, assessing how well they fitted together, incorporating blank pages to separate groups of images and thus highlight the transition to a new area along the coastline. Once I had decided on an initial selection I used the Blurb platform to create and produce my first proof copy. I found that the print quality of the images on premium matte finish paper was excellent; however, the size and heaviness of the typeface I had chosen for the introductory page and foreword detracted from the gentle delicacy of some of the images and the fine art feel I had envisaged for the book.

Jurys Gap, Camber.

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Statement of Intent - Assessment Date 13th May 2021 Between Land and Sea I find walking, like photography, a reflective process particularly when by the sea. I use structures along the coastal paths as focal points for my meditative gaze, creating a state of inner stillness, even when the sea is raging in the outer world.

The potential loss of one such landmark led me to take a journey, east to west along the East Sussex coast, photographing these landmarks before they are lost or reshaped by man or nature. Between Land and Sea represents this journey.

Slow Photography deepens my connection with my surroundings and I hope the resulting images convey the peace and tranquillity that I feel in these mindful moments as well as a sense of the changes unseen – here the sea, always moving and changing, merges into one, whilst structures slowly erode in an invisible state of flux.

I tested several typefaces, reducing the size and weight of print and ordered a further draft image wrap edition.

I had previously attended two ARPS advisory days and was clear on requirements and standards for print submissions; however, there were no advisory sessions that focus on book submissions. I contacted the distinctions team and my first proof book was sent in for advice from a member of the then Fine Art panel. The feedback I received via email was very positive, with just a couple of minor tweaks to the cover; it was recommended I make a submission to the panel. Unfortunately that was the week before the Covid lockdowns started, creating another hiatus; however, at the start of 2021 I made the changes based on that feedback and re-printed the book through Blurb with a linen cover and dust jacket.

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Soon after, I signed up for a one-to-one Statement of Intent advisory session with Richard Tickner which I highly recommend doing, for his advice and guidance were invaluable in helping me clarify and fine tune my final words before finally making my submission to the Landscape panel.

Thanks to lockdowns, the assessment days were accessible online and I was able to watch as my submission – the only book submission on this occasion - was assessed. The experience of having my work judged by four of the best UK landscape photographers, all of whom I have a massive respect for, was quite nerve wracking but worth it when Joe Cornish announced that my submission was successful. It has been a long journey, these 30 years to my ARPS award, yet one that has been thoroughly worthwhile.

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Rye Harbour (above and below).

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Beachy Head (above).

West Pier, Brighton (below).

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Pett Level (above).

Harbour Arm, Hastings (below).

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Bexhill on Sea (above).

Newhaven (below).

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Distinction Success

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Lin Gregory ARPS

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Distinction Success

Steve Hunter FRPS Steve’s intention is to portray the delicate nature of Hokkaido - its soft rolling hills and isolated trees - and to capture the transitional effects and moods of the ever-changing winter light. Visiting Hokkaido in winter left a deep emotional impression on him.

A peaceful landscape of tranquil simplicity, a place for quiet meditation, just silence all around.

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Visiting Hokkaido, Japan’s most northerly island in winter in January 2019, left a deep emotional impression on me. A peaceful landscape of tranquil simplicity and natural uncluttered beauty.

And while I’d expected snow, nothing could have prepared me for such an amazing landscape; wide vistas of gently rolling hills covered in pure fresh snow, populated by lone trees and tranquil simplicity.

gentleman said, “But do you have sufficient images for a Fellowship panel?” I subsequently reviewed my other Hokkaido images, again judging them as I did before but, disappointingly, I couldn’t find sufficient additional images. I subsequently shelved the idea that my images would be suitable for a Landscape FRPS panel.

My hopes and aims were to capture this wonderful place, with the intention of creating a body of work worthy of a Fellowship panel, but with no guarantee of achieving this exalted level with my photography.

A year later and with more time on my hands thanks to Covid, I reviewed my Hokkaido images afresh. To my great surprise I now saw them in a totally different light and, importantly, one that best captured my memories and feelings of this spectacular place.

On my return and with the experience fresh in my mind, I set about selecting and postprocessing my first set of images. I was very pleased that I had a series of powerful photographs, uniquely representative of this unique place. I subsequently showed around 8 prints to a few photo friends, who were highly complementary and felt it was both distinctive, true to my personal style and, in their opinion, worthy of the exacting standard expected for a Fellowship. However, as one learned

My now new, uncluttered vision meant that I discovered over 50 images well worthy of consideration. On reflection, the early limitations, preconditioning and constraints somehow created a barrier in my mind; a lesson I’ll never forget. I was now more emotionally connected and reflective of what I saw and captured in Hokkaido, with the expressive freedom and confidence to produce a panel of images that embodied a unique and personal perspective of this magical experience.

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Over the next six months I carefully set about choosing and developing every image. The panel took on a very different look and feel to that previously. Rather than the more conventional monochromatic representation of Hokkaido, my images featured a delicate array of soft colours that, for me, embodied the real feelings I had experienced, standing knee-deep in snow, in freezing temperatures, in the ever-changing soft light. Each image was carefully honed day-by-day, print-by-print, to ensure that each finished print was perfect but worked harmoniously as a collective panel. Finally, I had a body of work worthy of a Fellowship panel and, importantly, one that I was extremely proud of. Take advice from others as I did but, in the end, it’s you and you alone who succeeds or fails so take ownership of your panel.

The hardest job was writing my statement of intent which, at Fellowship level, is imperative. This resulted in numerous iterations, sometimes changing just a single word or phrase. I was determined that I would not fall at the first fence so it had to be 100% right.

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I purposely chose Fotospeed Natural Soft Textured Bright White fine art paper, mounted in snow white textured board, which perfectly suited the image style and added that extra dimension to achieving the perfect finished print.

I learnt many things from doing a Fellowship panel, the main ones being: • Photograph what you love. If you don’t feel emotional about what you see, capture and create you can’t expect others to feel any differently.

• Create images that please you, not necessarily others.

• Photography is an interconnected process; seeing, capturing, post-processing and eventually, printing. Make sure you get it right in-camera.

In summary, my Fellowship journey was certainly a rocky road, full of emotional ups and downs and time-consuming. But take your time and be totally committed to producing the very best work you possibly can, that expresses your own unique style. It’s certainly well worth it in the end.

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Statement of Intent - Assessment Date 13th May 2021 Visiting Hokkaido in winter left a deep emotional impression on me.

A peaceful landscape of tranquil simplicity. A place for quiet meditation. Just silence all around.

My intention is to portray the delicate nature of Hokkaido, of soft rolling hills, isolated trees and capture the transitional effects and moods of the ever-changing winter light.

My panel captures the essence of Hokkaido through a harmonious collection of uncluttered canvases, where the often-singular trees become magnified way beyond their physical presence and the skyline seamlessly blends into the land, creating a peaceful natural harmony. Captured in periods of gentle winter light that appears at sunrise, sunset and during the frequent snowstorms, amplifying the immersive nature and purity of the snowy vistas.

My portfolio conveys my feelings and emotions and momentarily transports me back in time to a place of peaceful serenity away from the reality and pressures of today’s fast paced life.

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Distinction Success

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Steve Hunter FRPS Presentation Layout

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Distinction Success

Fiona McCowan FRPS Despite Fiona living in the Cotswolds, a long way from the coast, she wanted to do a project based on the sea. By the sea is where Fiona feels most at home, where she feels happiest. It was important to Fiona for the project to be something she felt passionate about. The questions and answers, as well as images that follow, hopefully will inspire members to think about a project to pursue in 2022.

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Photobook Fellowship - 22 October 2021

Supporting Evidence

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Front cover In 2013 I took a 6 month sabbatical to study French at Nice University fully intending to return to my rewarding corporate career. However, after 6 months enjoying having time and energy to do the things I wanted to do I decided not to return. The decision was heavily influenced by the untimely death of my best friend from cancer and her advice of ‘carpe diem’.

I have always had an interest in art and photography so in February 2015 I borrowed a camera and enrolled on a local Introduction to Digital Photography course. The course was one day a week for 6 weeks and was a great way to learn the basics. I was hooked! I got my first camera, a Canon 70D for my birthday in May. Keen to learn more I signed up for the OU/ RPS Digital Photography - Creating and Sharing Better Images course. After completing the course I joined the RPS and worked towards my LRPS which I was awarded in July 2017.

My primary photographic interest is landscape, particularly minimalist seascapes, abstracts and intimate landscapes.

Ed: How did your project come about?

Despite living in the Cotswolds, a long way from the coast, I wanted to do a project based on the sea. By the sea is where I feel at home, where I feel happiest. It was important to me for the project 42 42

to be something I felt passionate about. I can happily spend all day at the coast with my camera, ideally somewhere remote and without people! The first ‘fine art’ image I took was by the sea in France on a workshop in 2016 and I knew immediately I had found what I wanted to photograph going forward.

Ed: How long have you been working on ‘In the Offing’?

At the 2019 RPS Landscape Group Conference in Malvern I discussed my initial thoughts about ‘In the Offing’ with Paul Mitchell FRPS at an informal session. I had prepared the first draft of my statement of intent and printed about a dozen small sample images. Paul was supportive of the idea and encouraged me to progress with my project.

The images in the book were taken over a period of 4 years. The locations are not obvious but are all very personal to me.

Ed: The images used in your submission - are they taken digitally? Did you consider taking them on film?

All the images in my book were taken digitally. As I only took up photography in 2015 all my photography has been using digital cameras. I love my Canon 6D Mk II so haven’t been tempted (yet) to try film, though people who work in film and other processes like Deborah Parkin, whose work I adore, do inspire me.

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My Blurred expectations.

Ed: The images included - were they always taken with a book in mind?

No. In 2020, during lockdown I took a brilliant one day online RPS workshop on concertina books with Alex Hare. I love books and the idea of combining handmade books and image making really appealed. After doing another couple of online workshops with Alex and Lizzie Shepherd I knew I wanted to do ‘In the offing’ as a handmade book.

Ed: Was the design and making of the book as important as the taking and selecting of the images? How many images did you have to select from and how long did this process take?

Hundreds and what seemed like a very long time! I had initially thought about a book submission for the Visual Art genre. When the new Photobook genre was announced in spring I was

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delighted as the guidelines reflected what I wanted to do: “All elements will be considered that make up your photobook submission, from the images to the colour of the text. What form of photobook you present is under your creative control”.

Sequencing a photobook is critical as it affects how the images and content are perceived. I spent many hours researching the ‘art and process of sequencing’. I also took inspiration from studying the work of some amazing photobook artists including Shona Grant, Edward Ruscha, Alec Soth, Joe Wright and Marianthi Lainas (an external advisor to the RPS panel).

Ed: Can you describe your book?

The book is a hand-crafted, hardback book measuring 22 cm square and covered in Ratchford navy book cloth. There are 48 pages with 21

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My fears.

photographic images plus text pages, printed on Fotospeed Matt Ultra 240 paper. The front cover has a small (6.5 cm square) inlaid image (incidentally taken on a RPS Landscape Group workshop in the Outer Hebrides). I spent ages choosing the end papers, finally selecting a Japanese Chiyogami Blue Melville paper. It is housed in a black presentation box with a descriptive card.

The offing is the distant stretch of the ocean still visible from the shore. The book epitomises my study of the offing and is divided into 4 sections - my blurred expectations; my fears; my dreams and my yūgen.

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Ed: Can you explain to the readers your ideas around mixing images and words?

All of my handmade books are a mix of images and words. I love language so I enjoy being able to combine my images with words. The words are a mixture of my own and from others, mainly poets and sometimes lyricists. I can spend hours looking through poetry books (or the internet) for the right words to reflect the emotion I felt when I took the image.

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Ed: The images included in the book - are they printed commercially or by yourself? If by yourself, what was your thinking behind the decision?

My book is completely handmade and I printed all the images myself at home. I use a Canon 100S to print all my work including my handmade books, prints, greetings cards etc. I like having control over all aspects of the bookmaking process.

Ed: Did you need to include a panel in your submission? Can you explain the process of submitting a book?

You submit your book, you don’t include a panel for the Photobooks genre. All forms of photobook are acceptable, including hard or soft cover photobooks, zines and handmade books.

The panel requires a minimum of 2 copies and a maximum of 8 copies for printed books and 1 copy for handmade photobooks. I hand delivered my book to RPS HQ as I live about 25 miles from Bristol.

Ed: If there is one piece of advice you could give to the group’s members about applying for a distinction, what would it be?

Just do it! It is hard work, time consuming but ultimately very rewarding. If I am allowed to give a second piece of advice, it would be to book a 1:1 review. My session with Iñaki Hernández-Lasa FRPS was invaluable, giving me the confidence to submit.

I would also like to thank Mark Reeves ARPS for his advice and help.

Finally, I need to warn your readers that photobooks can become an expensive obsession!

A brilliant resource for anyone interested in photobooks is Euan Ross’s Biblioscapes website and podcast.

Ed: I ask all successful applicants - when and how long did you take to write your statement of intent and how many versions did you make until you were finally happy with it?

For the photobook genre you submit supporting evidence rather than a statement of intent. Your supporting evidence can range from a few words to a full thesis or research document. If you exceed 1500 words, they request a 500 word summary. I lost count of the number of versions I drafted before I was finally happy with it!

My dreams.

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My yūgen.

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Details and dedication page (top).

Final page (bottom).

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Distinction Success

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Fiona McCowan FRPS

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Featured Photographer

Robert Harvey ARPS Digital cameras have opened up a whole new genre of our art; that of landscape photography at night. With the correct exposure, modern cameras can record much fainter objects than the eye can see, revealing a Universe of wonders.

Robert Harvey BA ARPS shares his knowledge of landscape astrophotography and some of the techniques demonstrated in his recent book “Photographing the Heavens”.

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For countless thousands of years, the night sky has been a common heritage of mankind. Over the last 144 years, since the invention of the electric light bulb in 1878, for many people that view has been lost. Today, most of the world’s population lives in cities, whose artificial lights obliterate all but the brightest stars. Travel into the countryside on a clear night and you can readily appreciate the view that city-dwellers miss. In a truly dark sky, you can see around 2000 stars. Arching across the sky between opposite horizons there is a faint band of light, the Milky Way.

Landscape astrophotography is the art of combining elements of the night sky with suitable, and perhaps even dramatic, terrestrial foregrounds.

The objective is to capture these scenes in camera, not to assemble them in Photoshop. The interest and challenge are in photographing astronomical subjects in situ.

A regular digital camera and lenses are sufficient to photograph celestial phenomena over an incredible range of scales. For example, the aurora borealis, or northern lights, occurs in the outer reaches of our atmosphere, around 100 km above the ground.

Aurora Borealis and Milky Way, Sycamore Gap, Northumberland The best landscape astrophotography often results from a combination of good planning and good luck. This iconic sycamore tree grows right beside a remote section of Hadrian’s Wall, in a valley framed by the Whin Sill. I planned to photograph the bare tree against the night sky in midwinter, looking north with the Milky Way beyond. It was New Year’s Eve and I expect everyone else in the country was partying, while I was finding my way along the rugged Roman Wall in the dark.

When I got to my destination, I was surprised to see a faint glow, low in the sky beyond the tree. No-one lives in that direction, so where was the light coming from? When I photographed it, I realised I had an unplanned bonus - the elusive Northern Lights.

Canon EOS 5D MK III, Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens. Exposure 20 seconds at f/2 and ISO 1600 Landscape Magazine Winter 2021/22

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Aurora Borealis, Lofoten Islands, Norway The characteristic green colour of aurorae results from collisions of solar particles with electrons in oxygen atoms.

The energy from this interaction temporarily boosts oxygen electrons into a higher orbit (they are said to become “excited”). When the electrons drop back to their normal orbit, that energy is released in the form of light of a characteristic wavelength.

I waited four hours at this icy location for the aurora to appear. For a few seconds it was intensely bright over this mountain ridge. Swinging my camera round to capture it brought this cottage into my field of view. I liked the resulting composition but had no time to calculate exposure. I stopped my lens down to f/2.8 to increase the depth of field, so as to get the cottage in focus, and estimated a corresponding shutter speed.

Canon EOS 5D MK III, Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens. Exposure 3.2 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600 The most distant object we can see with our unaided eyes is the Andromeda Galaxy at a distance of 2.5 million light years (24 million trillion km). The light that reaches our camera sensor from the Andromeda Galaxy began its journey long before humans had evolved on Earth.

Obviously, these subjects are much fainter than daytime landscapes. The Full Moon is 400,000 times less luminous than the Sun, whilst the brightest star in the night sky is 40,000 times dimmer than the Full Moon. Exposures need to be adjusted accordingly so a wide aperture and/or high ISO are needed for most images. Shutter speeds are usually measured in seconds, rather than fractions of a second. A sturdy tripod is essential. To photograph at night, I always use manual control of aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

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As Earth rotates, objects in the night sky move across our field of view. This movement is imperceptible to our eyes but quickly shows in a photograph. To avoid stars turning into trails, shutter speeds should be a maximum of 20 or 30 seconds when shooting with a wide angle lens (16 to 24mm).

Using a long telephoto (e.g. 400mm), Earth’s motion shows much more quickly and exposures need to be limited to one second. A rough guide is to divide 500 by the focal length of a lens to find the number of seconds of exposure possible without motion blur.

Star trailing can also be avoided by mounting the camera on a tracking device to compensate for Earth’s rotation. However, this is of limited use for landscape astrophotography as the foreground landscape then becomes blurred. A solution is to photograph the night sky with the tracker switched on and the foreground landscape with it switched off, then combine the foreground with the night sky in processing.

(Continued on page 56.)

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Geminid Meteor, Stonehenge, Wiltshire Meteors are grains of interplanetary dust that enter Earth’s upper atmosphere at typical speeds of up to 70 km per second. They are known colloquially as shooting stars, or more poetically as falling stars. Most are no bigger than a grain of sand. Their tremendous speed relative to Earth, which is moving at 30 km per second in its orbit, makes them highly energetic. Friction with air molecules causes meteoroids to burn up in a brief flash of light. Standing within Stonehenge stone circle on a frosty December evening, I made 125 consecutive exposures of 15 seconds each and captured this meteor heading towards Sirius on the 97th frame.

Canon EOS 70D and EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. Exposure 15 seconds at f/6.3 and ISO 1250

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn viewed through Devil’s Den, Wiltshire A conjunction is the appearance of planets close together in the sky as seen from Earth. I captured this rare triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn through the aperture of a Neolithic dolmen at dawn in March 2020.

Canon EOS 5D MK IV and Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8 lens. 20 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 Landscape Magazine Winter 2021/22

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Milky Way over Kynance Cove, Cornwall Kynance Cove is close to England’s southernmost point and enjoys very dark skies, making it ideal for Milky Way photography. I visited on a night when the maximum visibility of the Milky Way core at 3.30am coincided with low tide, enabling me to capture a reflection of the Milky Way in a pool of water on the beach. Because there is no artificial light in the area, I needed an additional 8 minute exposure to bring out detail in the rocks and cliffs.

Canon EOS 5D MK IV and Sigma Art 14mm f/1.8 lens. 12 light frames and 7 dark frames each of 20 seconds at f/2 and ISO 12,800, plus one light frame of 8 minutes at f/2 and ISO 3200 for the foreground.

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“The Greatest Show in the Galaxy”, Minack Theatre, Cornwall (above).

Built into the side of a Cornish cliff overlooking the ocean, the stunning setting of Minack Theatre faces south-east. I had the idea of photographing the Milky Way rising centre stage at 3am in April.

Canon EOS 5D MK IV and Sigma Art 14mm F/1.8 lens. 47 light frames and 17 dark frames each of 20 seconds at F/2 and ISO 6400, plus one light frame of 20 seconds at F/5.6 and ISO 1600 torchlit for the foreground.

Four Galaxies over Mesosaurus Fossil Site, Namibia (below).

I made this image in the exceptionally dark skies of southern Namibia, using the iconic silhouettes of quiver trees and dolerite rocks as foreground. From a latitude of 26 degrees south of the equator, this stitched panorama shows the arch of the Milky Way from the southern sky on the left to the northern sky on the right.

In the southern celestial hemisphere, the brightest part of the Milky Way is the core of our galaxy, within which lies a supermassive black hole. In the far southern sky are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, independent galaxies outside the Milky Way. In the northern sky, a faint, fuzzy object is visible just above the horizon - the Andromeda Galaxy.

Canon EOS 5D MK III and Rokinon 24mm f/1.4 lens. Stitched panorama of 12 frames, each exposed for 20 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200

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Star Trails over Wilton Windmill, Wiltshire As Earth rotates, stars appear to circle around the north celestial pole, marked by Polaris which appears almost stationary in the sky. This movement is too slow to be noticeable to our eyes but the ability of a camera to make a sequence of consecutive exposures records it as star trails. Looking due north, my artistic concept was to capture star circles echoing the daytime rotation of the windmill’s sails. Standing beside the windmill, I illuminated it with a hand torch on the final frame.

Canon EOS 5Di MK III and EF 16-35mm f/4L lens at 16mm.120 stacked exposures of 30 seconds at f/4 and ISO 3200 To optimise image quality, it is better to open the aperture wider, rather than to increase ISO or shutter speed. It is a wide aperture that enables the camera to collect the most light from faint objects, without motion blur or digital noise. An aperture of f/4 combined with an ISO of 1600 or 3200 is sufficient to photograph planets and stars, including many too faint to see with the unaided eye. However, most of my landscape astrophotography is done with a fast lens at an aperture of f/2, which is suitable for subjects such as aurorae and the Milky Way. Lenses at wide apertures need to be precisely focused in order to achieve a sharp result. This is an area where it is easy to make mistakes. Camera autofocus will work on the Moon but not on stars.

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zoom in at 100% and check sharpness. If necessary, adjust focus and repeat.

To focus on a foreground object, shine a bright torch onto it and use either autofocus or manual focus (same procedure as for stars). When using a wide angle lens (24mm or wider on a full frame camera) at f/4, focusing on a foreground subject that is more than 5m away will give a depth of field extending all the way to infinity, so the stars will be acceptably sharp too. When shooting nearby foreground with a fast lens at f/2.8 or wider, I practise hyper-focal focusing. For example, a 24mm lens at an aperture of f/2 on my full frame camera has a depth of field extending from 5m to infinity, provided it is focused on a point 10m from the camera.

Good landscape images need a compelling foreground and landscape astrophotography is no exception. I like to use terrestrial elements with

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Moon Rise, Glastonbury Tor, Somerset There are just one or two days each year when the Full Moon rises far enough north to shine through the doorway of St Michael’s Tower on Glastonbury Tor. I worked out that, from a distance of 2.6 km, the height of the tower would appear smaller than the diameter of the Moon and it would take the Moon 22 minutes after rising to reach the elevation of the tower in the sky. My calculations were out by around 50m and when it rose, I had to run!

Viewed through a 400mm telephoto lens, the Moon moves quickly across the field of view and was centred behind the tower for only about one second. The presence of a figure in the doorway of the tower at that moment was pure luck. I wonder who he or she is?

Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L lens.

Exposure 0.3 seconds at f/22 and ISO 250

strong outlines that stand against the sky such as rocks, towers, windmills, natural arches and trees bare of leaves. Including a person provides a focal point and a sense of scale, which can instantly lift an astrophotograph above the ordinary. It is best to plan ahead, visit the location in daylight first and previsualise your composition. Ancient monuments are particularly evocative and, living in Wiltshire, I have a wide choice. Stonehenge and Neolithic long barrows are aligned to summer and winter solstices, so their connection to the cosmos is real. Foreground subjects can be shown in silhouette or illuminated by torchlight, moonlight (best when the Moon is around threequarters full) or even street lights.

For many astrophotographers, the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is the most beautiful subject in the night sky. Appreciating and photographing it is only possible in the absence of artificial sources of light pollution and the Moon. Suitable locations include the 12 internationally recognised dark sky areas in the British Isles (www.darksky.org). The brightest and most complex part of the Milky Way is the core of our galaxy, which is visible from Britain low in the southern sky during spring (before sunrise) and summer (after sunset). I often photograph the Milky Way from southfacing coastlines such as Dorset and Cornwall. Looking out to sea, there is no light pollution (other than a few passing ships) to interfere with the view.

the best view, with the core high in the sky between March and September. The best viewing conditions are often found in deserts, where cloud cover is rare, atmospheric moisture is low and there is little light pollution. Stark desert landscapes such as rock formations and trees can make excellent foregrounds.

While photographing landscapes at night, I recommend spending a little time away from your viewfinder to fully appreciate the night sky with your eyes. Experience the sense of wonder that must have been felt by generations of people before us.

Robert Harvey BA ARPS EFIAP CEnv CSci MCIWEM is a professional photographer and a chartered scientist. He founded Natural World Photography to share his enthusiasm for making innovative images of Earth and the Universe. His book “Photographing the Heavens”, available from www. naturalworldphotography.net for £25 including post and packing, shows you how to make stunning pictures of the night sky. Robert runs online astrophotography courses for the RPS (www.rps.org/what-s-on) and practical Milky Way photography workshops in Dorset, Cornwall and Namibia (www.naturalworldphotography. net/section844883.html).

Because the Milky Way is faint, high ISOs are needed and images may suffer from digital noise.

To get more light and less noise, one approach is to make a sequence of 20-second exposures which are then stacked in processing. The addition of dark frames (same settings with the lens cap in place) allows stacking software to identify noise on the sensor and subtract it from the finished image.

If you become more interested in Milky Way photography, you may decide to venture overseas.

As you travel south, more of the galactic core becomes visible. The southern hemisphere offers Landscape Magazine Winter 2021/22

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Featured Photographer

Adrian Gidney FRPS Adrian asks the question which I’m sure we’ve all pondered over the years: ‘Have you ever thought about buying a new lens but, even after reading all the reviews, were hesitant about hitting the ‘buy it now’ button?’ This was exactly the position Adrian found himself in a while ago. Here we find out how hiring a lens may be the way forward before getting your credit card out for that big purchase.

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5 days with a hired lens in Snowdonia Have you ever thought about buying a new lens but, even after reading all the reviews, were hesitant about hitting the ‘buy it now’ button? This was exactly the position I found myself in a while ago. I had been looking at the Canon RF 14-35mm f4 lens which was released in August this year. As a predominantly landscape photographer I already had the EF 16-35mm f4 which I used on my Canon EOS R6 with the EF-RF adapter.

Whilst at the Photography Show in Birmingham in September I happened to come across a couple of Lens Hire companies and thought that it would be a good idea to try the lens for 5 days during a trip I had booked to Snowdonia at the beginning of November. After making enquiries with them I went online to ‘LensesforHire’ and read through the process.

I have to say, all you need to know about hiring any equipment is on the website. Pick the equipment, the date and number of days you want to hire it for and it comes up with a price. For the 5 days I wanted it for it worked out at £89. Having said that, because I wanted it Monday to Friday, they sent it by courier to arrive the Friday before and a courier collected it the Monday following the hire period so, in fact, I had it for 9 days for the price of 5.

A few facts about the Canon RF 14-35mm: It’s the world’s first full frame 14-35mm lens and the first 14mm lens to take normal 77mm filters. It’s currently the widest native lens for the Canon’s mirrorless cameras (Other EF lenses are wider and work with the EF to RF adapter). It’s smaller and lighter than the other ultrawide zoom, the RF 15-35mm f2.8 The lens arrived by courier appropriately packaged and came with a protective 77mm UV filter, lens hood and Canon soft lens bag. They also provide a bag and label for the return. The first thing I noticed about it was it was lighter and more compact than my 16-35mm. In fact, when weighed, it was around 200g lighter than my 16-35 with the EOS EF-RF adapter.

So off to North Wales to meet up with my brother who is also keen on photography. We stayed on the outskirts of Llanberis in my camper van. Dawn of day one, we awoke to the sound of rain on the van roof. The rain always sounds worse than it is on the fibreglass roof. The forecast said it was due to clear by sunrise which was a reasonable 7.18am so we walked down to Llyn Padarn lake to see what the ‘lone tree’ was looking like. I was pleased to find the water level was quite high as I had never photographed it properly flooded before. A couple of wider shots with the 14-35mm looked pretty good as the tree was nicely reflected in the lake.

Llynnau Mymbyr ISO 125, f19, 1/20th sec, 32mm, 3 shots bracketed, tripod

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During the week I made good use of the lens at Tryfan, Dinorwic quarry and Llandudno. However, to use it at its widest 14mm, you have to find strong foregrounds otherwise there can be a lot of ‘unused’ or uninteresting space in the frame. I did notice when looking at images on my laptop at its widest focal lengths that there is some vignetting, especially if using filters. This is either managed in-camera using Peripheral Illumination Correction set to its default position of On or, in Lightroom and Camera Raw, where it can easily be removed using the lens correction section within the Develop module. Adobe programmes have the settings for this lens.

The lens seems incredibly sharp from corner to corner. It has almost instantaneous focusing and a very close focusing ability 0.20m from the sensor. It also has lens image stabilisation which, when combined with the R5 or R6 IBIS, reportedly gives up to 7 stops (real world means you get around a 3-4 stop advantage when using handheld to get sharp images every time).

Like any ultrawide lens you need to be wary of angling the lens up or down and consider what this will do to verticals and horizontals in the images.

Pointing a wide angle lens down makes parallel lines, e.g. buildings converge inwards from bottom to top.

This can be corrected in post-processing but often at the expense of having to crop the image afterwards.

The only other downside of this relatively new lens is the price, at between £1,700 – £1,800 depending on where you buy it but you are getting a quality piece of equipment which should last you many years.

So would I buy one? Well, since coming home, I have sold my EF 16-35mm f4 to help fund the purchase of this lens. Will it make me take better photos?

No. It will, however, enable me to take wider shots when the composition demands it, especially in portrait orientation, which is one of my preferred styles of landscape photography.

Snowdon Viewpoint ISO 400, f11, 1/30th sec, 14mm, tripod (above).

Llyn Padarn ISO 200, f8, 1/10th sec, 30mm 3 shots bracketed, tripod (below).

Regarding my post-processing, where I have taken 3 shots bracketed for exposure either on a tripod or handheld, I have blended 2 or 3 of the images in Photoshop using luminosity masking with the ‘plug in’ Lumenzia. The black and white image I converted to B&W in Photoshop using a blend of two layers, one converted in Camera Raw and the other converted using the Nik Collection silver efex.

Ade Gidney FRPS www.adegidneyphotography.com

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Llandudno Pier ISO 400, f8, 4sec, 16mm, tripod (above).

Dinorwic Quarry ISO 160, f8, 1/350th sec 16mm, 3 shots bracketed, handheld (below).

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Llyn Padarn ISO 160, f9.5, 1/15th sec, 28mm, 3 shots bracketed, tripod (above).

Dinorwic Quarry ISO 200, f8, 0.3sec, 23mm, tripod, 3 images focus stacked (below).

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Llyn Gwynant ISO 200, f9.5, 1/30th sec, 24mm, tripod.

All images in this article were taken using a Canon EOS R6 + RF 14-35mm f4 L lens.

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