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Continual movement I am fairly sure that all of us have been or are in a state of striving to achieve a certain level of proficiency in our photography; perhaps defined on a short-term scale as nailing the shot or on a longer timescale as achieving or being known for having a distinctive style. It’s quite a natural state to be in, as we’re taught from pretty much the moment we are born to set targets and then aim to meet them.

The potential problem with setting strictly defined targets is that once we get there we are reluctant to let go and move on to a new challenge. Once we nail the ‘perfect’ shot or develop a style, the acclaim, both from within ourselves and from the community, is so welcomed that it can trap us – maybe even for the rest of our creative career.

Given such circumstances we can spend many years basking in the light of mistaken belief that our achieved photography style is who we are, but as the common saying goes, ‘the only thing that is constant in life is change.’

By actively changing what we do and how we go about it, by experimenting and trying things that inject a dose of

THE ISSUE

fear into us, we can free ourselves to become even greater artists and practitioners of photography.

There are many top professional photographers who have fallen into the trap, just as there are many who have either skipped around it or have managed to escape the trap and move on. For example, our columnist Niall Benvie (whose latest article you can read on page 58) is one of those who I feel has trodden the path of continual change throughout his career. You only need to take a cursory glance at his website to see just how diverse his work has been over the years, and yet every stage along the path has been undertaken with great mindfulness and a clear progression in and the application of acquired knowledge.

It’s impossible to define Niall’s style, but I am always eager to discover what he will do next. Rather than stalling to secure his place in the history books as the person who took ‘those’ images, he chooses to be fully awake today; it’s a refreshing way to be.

Steve Watkins

at a glance

Thomas Heaton talks to us about his landscape career to date – page 16

Richard Garvey-Williams explores advanced composition – page 28

Niall Benvie reveals why he thinks we need to get together – page 58

GET IN TOUCH Email Contact the Editor, Steve Watkins, at stevew@thegmcgroup.com or Deputy Editor, Chris Gatcum, at opdeped@thegmcgroup.com Write to us Outdoor Photography, 86 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XN Keep right up to date with news by ‘liking’ OP at facebook.com/outdoorphotographymag Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/opoty

ON THE COVER

Find us on Instagram at instagram.com/outdoorphotographymag/

Richard Childs took this stunning image of Tryfan in Snowdonia.

Fergus Kennedy tests the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ200 – page 86

June 2018 Outdoor Photography 1

TOP STRAP JULY 2018

16 FEATURES & OPINION 16 In conversation with…

Thomas Heaton YouTuber and landscape photographer Thomas Heaton shares with Nick Smith why taking strong pictures is always at the core of his business

25 One month, one picture

58 Opinion Niall Benvie on what’s missing in the UK nature photography scene

61 Inside track Nick Smith on the importance of getting an outsider’s point of view when image editing

LEARNING ZONE

LOCATIONS GUIDE

28 Improving your landscape compositions

50 Stob Coire nan Lochan, Highland

Richard Garvey-Williams shares his in-depth guide to enhancing your understanding of landscape composition

Paul Holloway ascends a distinctive Scottish peak to capture first light

Pete Bridgwood explores the capabilities of the latest features in Adobe Lightroom

69 Photo Showcase: Sony World Photography Awards

36 Quick guide to… photographing the Milky Way

39 Lie of the land

Our favourite images from this year’s competition

Top tips from Drew Buckley for capturing the galaxy

A friend’s passing comment makes Matt Oliver reflect

43 Photo Showcase: World Press Photo Awards The best outdoor-related images from this powerful and moving competition

2 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Stephen Spraggon takes advantage of bad weather and captures an atmospheric shot of the Dingle Peninsula

54 Viewpoints

40 In the spotlight Adventure photographer Robert Grew answers our quick-fire questions

53 Cogher Head, County Kerry

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Eight top UK locations to shoot this month, including photogenic spots in Dorset, North Yorkshire, St Kilda and Lancashire

28

102

36 NATURE ZONE

GEAR ZONE

REGULARS

YOUR OP

86 Camera test: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ200

8 Newsroom

14 Social hub

76 Life in the wild

Fergus Kennedy puts the latest pocket-sized travel zoom camera from Panasonic to the test

Keeping you up to date with the latest photography, outdoor and conservation stories

Your feedback, thoughts and musings on all things photography-related

10 Out there

60 Next month

Our pick of the latest titles, plus we talk to Peter Cairns and David Hetherington about Scotland: The Big Picture’s latest book, The Lynx and Us

A sneak peek at the August issue of Outdoor Photography

Laurie thinks back to his formative years and reflects on the key role nature played in his happiness and connection to his home country

78 Photography guide Laurie’s nature highlights for this month, plus world wildlife spectacles and top places to go rockpooling in the UK

81 A moment with nature

88 Gearing up Our round up of the latest outdoor and photography kit to hit the shelves

Discover how to get your work published in OP

12 The big view The latest photography exhibitions and nature events taking place across the UK

Joanna Clegg finds abstract patterns in nature

65 Reader gallery Our pick of this month’s best readers’ images

102 If you only do one thing this month…

82 On the wing Steve Young has a superb and unexpected encounter with a young cuckoo at his local nature reserve

62 Your chance

The winners of our exotic wildlife photography competition, plus details of our next challenge

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 28 JUNE 2018 On test: We look at the new Canon EOS M50 In conversation with…wildlife photographer Shannon Wild Winners of our One thing this month…plants and flowers

112 Where in the world?

Correctly identify the location and you could win a Manfrotto Pro Light FastTrack sling bag, worth £109.95!

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 3

IN THE MAGAZINE THIS MONTH...

EDITORIAL

COVER Richard Childs is a professional photographer with his own gallery in the Ironbridge Gorge. Working predominantly with a large format camera but also using Sony cameras with modern tilt-shift lenses, he provides workshops all over Britain. richardchildsphotography.co.uk

06

16

Nick Dale wanted to be a photographer when he was 15, but his mum said he could always take it up later – so that was that for 30 years. He read English at University of Oxford and was a consultant before retiring at 29, and has been a photographer since 2013. nickdalephotography.com

Thomas Heaton is based in the north-east of England.

His love of travel, adventure and the outdoors shines through in his photography.

Filming and sharing his photo adventures on YouTube has brought great success to this up and coming photographer. thomasheaton.co.uk

25 Pete Bridgwood is a fine art landscape photographer and writer. He is fascinated by the creative foundations of landscape photography and passionate about exploring the emotional elements of the art. petebridgwood.com

ADVERTISING Advertising executive Guy Stockton guy.stockton@thegmcgroup.com, 01273 402825

MARKETING Marketing executive Anne Guillot anneg@thegmcgroup.com, 01273 402871

PRODUCTION Production manager Jim Bulley Production controller Scott Teagle Origination and Ad design GMC Repro. repro@thegmcgroup.com, 01273 402807 Publisher Jonathan Grogan Printer Precision Colour Printing, Telford, 01952 585585 Distribution Seymour Distribution Ltd

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28 Richard Garvey-Williams is a fine art nature photographer and author of books on photography.

Having spent his childhood in Africa, he relishes opportunities to return and share his experience through leading photography safaris. Now based in Devon, he also offers landscape photography tutoring on Dartmoor. richardgarveywilliams.com

Editor Steve Watkins stevew@thegmcgroup.com Deputy editor Chris Gatcum opdeped@thegmcgroup.com Assistant editor Anna Bonita Evans anna.evans@thegmcgroup.com Designers Toby Haigh, Olly Prentice

39 Drew Buckley is an award-winning professional landscape and wildlife photographer from Pembrokeshire. His images are published internationally in many magazines, books, and in the media. He also runs location-based photographic workshops around Wales. drewbuckleyphotography.com

Matt Oliver is a commercial photographer of 20 years with a deep passion for landscape photography.

Being a keen hiker and living near the Peak District gives him amazing opportunities to venture out and explore this beautiful diverse region. mattoliverphotography.com

50 Paul Holloway lives in the village of Callander at the gateway to the Scottish Highlands, and works parttime as a teacher. He sp ends as much time as he can out photographing, and being a keen hillwalker he enjoys combining both pursuits. paulhollowayphotography.co.uk

Outdoor Photography (ISSN 1470-5400) is published 13 times a year by GMC Publications Ltd. 86 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1XN. Tel 01273 477374 © Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd. 2018

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53 Stephen Spraggon is a landscape photographer based in Somerset. He relishes photographing any outdoor scenery but is particularly at home in his native rural West Country. spraggonphotography.co.uk

58 Niall Benvie has photographed and written about the natural world and our relationship with it, professionally, for over 20 years. He is co-founder of the international photography project Meet Your Neighbours. niallbenvie.com

81 Joanna Clegg has always had a fascination with the natural world. A nature photographer with a background in marine biology, she runs an organic coastal farm in Cornwall.

With an eye for patterns, textures and colours, particularly at macro level, she likes to capture the abstract art of nature. abstractnature.co.uk

Steve Young has been at OP from issue one. His images have appeared in numerous publications and he has written two bird photography books and photo-edited two bird identification guides.

He was the overall winner of the 2010 British Wildlife Photography Awards. birdsonfilm.com

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Ade Gidney flickr.com/photos/39546003@N06, Andrew Ray andrewrayphotography.com, Carlton Doudney, Fergus Kennedy ferguskennedyphotography.com, James Poots, John Haswell johnhaswellphotography.co.uk, Laurie Campbell lauriecampbell.com, Mark Ferguson markfergusonphotography.co.uk, Matt Whorlow matt-photo.co.uk, Nick Smith nicksmithphoto.com, Richard Burdon rjbphotographic.co.uk

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Outdoor Photography considers article ideas for publication, which should be sent to the Editor, along with a stamped self-addressed return envelope if you require your material back. GMC Publications cannot accept liability for the loss or damage of any unsolicited material. Views and comments expressed by individuals in the magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publishers and no legal responsibility can be accepted for the results of the use by readers of information or advice of whatever kind given in this publication, either in editorial or advertisements. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the Guild of Master Craftsman Publications Ltd. With regret, promotional offers and competitions, unless otherwise stated, are not available outside the UK and Eire.

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Lilac-breasted roller

by Nick Dale This lilac-breasted roller is carrying a dead grasshopper in its beak as it lifts its wings to take off from the leafy branch of a bush. I took the photograph in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania in January 2018.

Nikon D810 with 800mm lens, ISO 640, 1/1000sec at f/8

6 Outdoor Photography July 2018

THE LATEST BULLETINS

NEWSROOM CONSERVATION

NEW LAUNCHES

COMPETITIONS

OUTDOORS

TECHNOLOGY

OTHER NEWS

© Tom Way

© Ted Leeming

Fotospeed launches Foto Fest Central

Following on from two successful years running Foto Fest South in Bath, Fotospeed has announced a new festival, Foto Fest Central, which will take place at Patchings Art Centre in Nottingham on July 15. The one-day event features four talks from five of the UK’s leading practitioners in the fields of landscape and wildlife – Mark Littlejohn, Tom Way, Ted Leeming and Morag Paterson, and Charlie Waite – as well as a Q&A session at the end of the day where all five will be on stage together to answer questions from the audience.

The event runs from 9:30am to 5pm, with OP regular Mark Littlejohn kicking off the talks at 10am with a look at creating atmosphere in landscape photographs. Tickets are priced at £40 per person, which includes entry to all the talks, the festival marketplace where you will fi nd top manufacturers including Canon, Lee Filters and, of course, Fotospeed (with exclusive festival deals to be had), and entry to the wider Patchings Festival, which is also running on July 15. To fi nd out more and book, head over to fotofest.co.uk.

Four calls for entries

Sponsored walks

A quartet of established photography contests have opened their doors to entries. Take-a-View Landscape Photographer of the Year deadlines on 7 July; go to take-a-view.co.uk. If you fancy your chances of being Travel Photographer of the Year, as the competition celebrates its 15th anniversary, head over to tpoty.com. For a shot at winning Environmental Photographer of the Year, visit ciwem.org/epoty. Or, if you think your name could be on the trophy for the SINWP Bird Photographer of the Year Competition 2018, check out sinwp.com/bird. Good luck!

A Lords Select Committee – The Select Committee on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006 – has published a report criticising the government’s management of the countryside.

According to the report, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been ‘predominantly focused upon the important environment, agriculture and food elements of its remit’, rather than rural affairs and that Natural England has effectively been neutered by heavy budget cuts and ‘increasing central control’.

The report goes on to suggest that Defra’s responsibility for rural affairs should be handed over to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and also states that the Countryside Code should be revisited and relaunched. In addition, it recommends that sponsorship should be considered for the National Trails network to help ensure long-term funding, and that public funds be used to ‘reward’ landowners who ensure footpaths on their land are maintained and accessible. View the full report or you can download it as a PDF at parliament.uk/business/committees/committeesa-z/lords-select/nerc-act-committee/publications.

Last chance for BWPA discount It is your last chance to get £5 off entry to the 2018 British Wildlife Photography Awards (BWPA), as the competition closes at midnight on June 8. This month’s exclusive OP voucher code is OPJUL18, which can be applied to any entry plan. Head over to the BWPA website (bwpawards.org) to enter your best shots.

Camelthorn trees in Namibia - Marsel van Oosten/tpoty.com

8 Outdoor Photography July 2018

EDITED BY CHRIS GATCUM

Pesticides banned to save bees NUMBER It’s good news for bees and other pollinators, as a neartotal ban on the use of neonicotinoid insecticides has been agreed by EU member states. The controversial insecticides were already subject to a partial ban, but this is being extended to cover more crops and effectively limit their use to inside greenhouses.

The ban comes after a number of studies suggested that this type of insecticide poses a huge threat to multiple bee species, including wild bees and honeybees.

When exposed to the pesticides it was found that hives struggled to survive winter, leading to smaller colonies in spring and fewer queens. In a recent report, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) examined 1,500 studies of three specific neonicotinoids and concluded that the pesticides presented a significant risk to the bee population and, by extension, global food production.

It is this report that is being seen as a key factor in persuading a number of formerly reticent EU member states to agree to the ban.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some groups dispute the findings, with Bayer AG, a German ‘pharmaceutical and life sciences company’ that manufacturers this type

CRUNCH

300

© Kelly Marken / Shutterstock.com

of insecticide, suggesting that ‘EFSA’s findings place it outside the current mainstream science on bee health’.

The UK’s National Farmers Union has also raised concerns, questioning ‘whether the harmful impacts observed in studies based on artificially dosing bees, occur in real-life field situations and cause the population declines we are all so concerned about’. For now, though, the ban is set to be implemented across Europe, and should be fully in place by the end of this year.

SmugMug acquires Flickr Jessops reveals ‘next er VCG’s acquisition of the online photography generation’ photo shops Aft community 500px (Newsroom, OP230), the

The ‘next generation’ Jessops store in Nottingham. © Jessops

High-street stalwart, Jessops, is looking to attract new customers with the launch of its ‘next generation’ photo stores. The concept, which has already started to roll out across the company’s stores nationwide, will effectively see the shop space split in two. In one half ‘Jessops will continue to offer a wide and comprehensive range of hardware’, while the other half ‘will focus on gifting and printing’.

A particular emphasis is being placed on drawing in the ‘smartphone savvy photographer’, with Jessops CEO, Neil Old, explaining that the company wants to encourage ‘customers to set their photos free by taking their images off their phones, memory cards or even social timelines and sharing them with friends and family through gifting or creating something beautiful and different for their homes’. To this end, future Jessops shoppers will be able to visit a ‘crafting zone’ where they can call upon the services of an in-store ‘photosmith’ to help them explore various wall art and gift ideas, ‘putting back the magic into photography and printing photos’.

longstanding Flickr community is now also set to change hands, with photo-hosting service SmugMug taking ownership. The news comes less than one year after Flickr (along with other then-Yahoo-owned holdings) was bought by Verizon, and follows a number of years of discontent among some users who felt disenfranchised

by Yahoo and Verizon’s treatment of the site.

The good news is that with SmugMug taking control, Flickr is now back in the hands of a photography company. At the time of writing, SmugMug has stated that it intends to keep Flickr as a separate entity, so it does not appear that it will be forcing Flickr members to ‘upgrade’ to a paid-for account. However, it will be interesting to see what SmugMug (a paid-for imagehosting service) intends to do with Flickr (an ostensibly free image-hosting service) in the longer term.

DxO Labs on a rocky path The French software company DxO Labs has announced a ‘restructuring’ of its business after filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection. Although not the biggest player in the software market, DxO Labs’ PhotoLab, Viewpoint and FilmPack software has a loyal band of fans, and last year it bought the popular Nik Software Collection from Google. In 2015, the company also developed the DxO ONE ‘connected camera’, which some commentators suggest may have been a contributing factor to the company’s current woes.

The company is adamant that ‘this procedure...will not affect our customers in any way’. Indeed, they also announced that June will see it release a free update to its award-winning PhotoLab software, plus a new version of the Nik Software Collection.

DxOMark Image Labs is unaffected, as it became an independent company in September 2017.

The RSPB is asking members of the public in the north-east of England to keep an eye out for hen harriers while they’re exploring the region’s remote moorlands. According to experts, ‘there is sufficient habitat in England to provide a home to around 300 pairs of breeding hen harriers. But last year there were only three successful nests in the whole country, all of which were in Northumberland.’ Find out how to report your sightings at rspb.org. uk/our-work/conservation/ henharrierlife.

106,000

In 2014, Bill Charbonnet left his job and set up LargeSense, with the mission to ‘make large format digital cameras’. Now, it seems to be a case of ‘mission accomplished’, as LargeSense has released the LS911, which is being widely described as the ‘world’s first single shot 8x10in digital camera’ (although in reality it has a 9x11in sensor). Although the large-format beast has a relatively modest 12MP resolution, and only shoots monochrome images, its giant sensor delivers 75-micron pixels, which not only make the Fujifilm GFX 50S’s 5.3-micron pixels look decidedly small, but should give the camera phenomenal light-gathering capabilities. Visit largesense.com to find out more or to place your order for this US$106,000 (£78,000) heavyweight.

1,000

The John Muir Trust has taken over management of Glenridding Common, an area that covers 1,000 hectares in the centre of the Lake District National Park, including England’s third highest mountain, Helvellyn. According to the trust, ‘erosion, high footfall and flooding have all contributed to an urgent need to enhance the environmental quality of the land’, so it has developed a three-year management plan. Find out more at johnmuirtrust.org.

500 MILLION Casio has announced that it will be withdrawing from the digital camera market, following losses of 500 million yen (£3.39 million).

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 9

THE LATEST NEW MEDIA

OUT THERE

Nebraska, June 2014

The Big Cloud Camille Seaman Princeton Architectural Press 978-1-6168-9663-8 Hardback, £30 For the past 10 years CaliforniaBOOK OF THE MONTH based photographer Camille Seaman has sought out some of her country’s most extreme meteorological events and captured them on camera. Photographing brewing hurricanes, tornados and supercell storms, Seaman has documented incredible displays in some of the most challenging, yet beautiful, conditions. Here we see a selection of her most enigmatic works, all shot on America’s great plains. Speaking about photographing such a volatile, mesmerising subject, Seaman says: ‘The word happy can’t even begin to illustrate the level of ecstatic joy and deep fulfillment that storm chasing gives me. I feel a sense of why I exist. I feel a sense of belonging. Not because I’m photographing, but because I am present and realise that our experience as humans on this planet is limitless.’ With beautiful imagery throughout, The Big Cloud is testament to how some of the best nature photographs are often taken in the very worst weather.

10 Outdoor Photography July 2018

The Snow Leopard Peter Matthiessen The Folio Society Hardback, £36.95 A beautiful edition of a literary classic, this version of The Snow Leopard is something to be cherished. Bound in printed, sp otvarnished cloth and kept safe in a slipcase, it includes an introduction by Matthiessen’s son, Alex, and 20 previously unseen photographs by the writer’s expedition partner George Schaller. Alex’s essay is a moving account of him and Schaller retracing Alex’s father’s steps two years after his death in 2016. Another nice touch is the printed map endpapers, showing the topography and route of the journey.

Whether you’re rereading a favourite or coming to this classic for the first time, this version of The Snow Leopard won’t disappoint.

The Snow Leopard is available to buy exclusively from foliosociety.com

Traces of Urbanity Dierk Maass Kehrer Verlag 978-3-86828837-7 Hardback, £22.99 German photographer Dierk Maass loves to explore. In the past 30 years he’s climbed more than 60 summits between 6,000m and 8,000m in altitude, searching out human traces in remote places far away from big cities. Here we see his latest pictures in the new book Traces of Urbanity. Large in format and shot with a contemporary look, the 47 colour photographs are intriguing in subject matter and st yle. Curator, writer and art historian Anabel Roque Rodríguez points out in her accompanying text (which is threaded throughout the 84 pages) that the photogaphs

by Maass ‘are narratives, they tell us stories about the lives of people at strange and remote places, stories about the grandeur and sublimity of nature, and stories about the relationship between the two.’ Presenting a refreshing take on landscape photography, this is a well-produced book that could stimulate new ideas about how to approach the genre.

EDITED BY ANNA BONITA EVANS FIVE MINUTES WITH… Peter Cairns and David Hetherington ‘The Lynx and Us’ is the latest book by Scotland: The Big Picture. We catch up with the conservation project’s founder, Peter Cairns, and the book’s author, David Hetherington, to explore what it would mean if the lynx were reintroduced © Mark Hamblin

OP: How did Scotland: The Big Picture’s collaboration with David Hetherington come about?

Peter Cairns: I’ve known David for many years and we work together on a variety of rewilding related themes. His work on lynx has so far been focused primarily towards the conservation and academic communities, so a book like this was the perfect platform to allow his knowledge to be shared across a wider audience.

various activities. Laurent’s stunning images bring the text to life by not only showing wild lynx behaving naturally but also the hands-on work of biologists studying them in Switzerland.

OP: For more than 17 years you’ve been studying the lynx and what its reintroduction to Scotland would mean for the landscape and its people. What was it about the animal and its status in the UK that you found so intriguing?

DH: At the time I started studying lynx there was quite a debate about reintroducing wolves to Scotland.

My feeling was that Scotland was nowhere near ready for that.

I was puzzled as to why nobody was talking about lynx, a formerly native species, which had been reintroduced to several European countries – typically causing far fewer problems than wolves. Restoring an apex mammal predator to a country that hasn’t had one for several centuries would be a very bold step.

If it can be done successfully, leading to a stable population, it would signal a new era in nature conservation.

However, this is so dependent on a mature and respectful dialogue involving all users of the countryside.

OP: What was the thinking behind using Laurent Geslin’s photographs of the lynx found in other parts of Europe?

PC: We needed strong imagery to bring David’s words to life and Laurent has secured the best portfolio of wild lynx anywhere in Europe. Bringing the two together created the perfect platform to improve understanding of the role of apex predators in a healthy ecosystem.

OP: Is there an end point for Scotland: The Big Picture in achieving its aims?

PC: Probably not in my lifetime!

Despite the general perception of Scotland being a nature-rich nation, it is in fact ecologically degraded across huge areas. Communicating a case for a wilder Scotland is a longterm and complex process and relies on creating a cultural climate where rewilding is seen as an opportunity rather than a threat.

David Hetherington: Absolutely.

The Eurasian lynx is Europe’s most secretive large carnivore and is very unfamiliar to most of us. My text

OP: What role do you see media playing in the conservation movement in the future?

PC: Photographers and filmmakers are uniquely positioned to tell powerful stories that combine ecological science with visual media.

For Scotland: The Big Picture it’s all about working with others for an outcome that would be impossible to achieve working in isolation.

OP: David, you did your PhD on the feasibility of reintroducing the Eurasian lynx into Scotland and have since used a variety of different media (especially photography) to construct your argument. Do you think words are more powerful when combined with images?

explains in a non-technical way how this species lives in the busy human landscapes of modern Europe and how it interacts with us and our

OP: How do you think OP readers will benefit from reading this book?

DH: I hope your readers will gain a stronger understanding of this species, how it relates to other wildlife and livestock, and how it fits with farming, forestry, hunting and tourism. They can then enhance the growing national discussion about lynx reintroduction in the UK.

The Lynx and Us Text by David Hetherington, images by Laurent Geslin Scotland: The Big Picture 978-0-9568-4232-9 Hardback, £25 © Laurent Geslin

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 11

THE LATEST WHAT'S ON © Margaret Soraya

THE BIG VIEW EXHIBITIONS Sea of Solitude 1 to 29 June Talla Na Mara, Isle of Harris A series of photographer Margaret Soraya’s serene seascape images go on show this summer at Talla na Mara, a new community centre overlooking Niseaboist beach on the Isle of Harris. Working in some of Scotland’s wildest locations, Soraya says: ‘I thrive in remote and quiet places and create my best work in solitude. The Scottish islands are ideal. Sometimes I can speak to no one for several days.

As a landscape photographer living in the Highlands, I seek to also capture the essence of places such as Loch Ness, where I have my home.’

Soraya hopes that the set of photographs evocatively explores how the healing power of solitude and the raw energy of the sea can benefit both the artist and viewer. margaretsoraya.com

12 Outdoor Photography July 2018

A Year in their Lives & Other Work by Roy Carr 15 June to 14 July Cynon Valley Museum, Aberdare Roy Carr’s latest work documents four sheep farms in south Wales and is a portrait of rural life in one seasonal year. Through a classic photographic st yle, Carr photographs the farmers’ daily routines and their connection with the land and wildlife.

Every Saturday at 2pm Carr will give a guided talk about the exhibition. Accompanying the main display is a collection of landscape images of Iceland and other parts of Wales.

Find out more on Roy’s Facebook page (Roy Carr Photography).

Job Done © Roy Carr

Spring © Tessa Burney

#BritishFlowers Part 1 To 29 September Joe Cornish Gallery Courtyard, Northallerton Tessa Burney displays her st ylish still-life images of flowers in the Joe Cornish Gallery’s courtyard – the first outdoor photography exhibition the gallery has held. With a delicate colour palette and shallow depth of field, Burney’s photographs are evocative renditions of English flora. Each image has been printed on Chromaluxe panels specifically for the show so that they can withstand the elements. joecornishgallery.co.uk

EDITED BY ANNA BONITA EVANS EXHIBITIONS WITH A DIFFERENCE © Julia Viebach

Kwibuka Rwanda To 28 September Long Gallery, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford These sobering photographs are of the memorial sites commemorating the one million people who lost their lives in 100 days during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. The pictures depict a small selection of the 243 memorial sites and tell the story of the survivors’ loss and trauma. The project also looks at the caretakers, who honour the dead by cleaning and preserving their remains.

These images accompany Dr Julia Viebach’s extensive research on memory and justice in Rwanda between 2009 and 2014. Please note, this exhibition includes images of human remains and shares upsetting personal testimonies. prm.ox.ac.uk Shape of Light: 100 years of photography and abstract art To 14 October Tate Modern, London The new major exhibition at Tate Modern explores photography in relation to the abstraction movement and its development. More than 300 images from the past 100 years will be on show.

From modernism to the present day, works from photographers such as Man Ray, Aaron Siskind, Sameer Makarius and André Kertesz will be shown alongside abstract paintings and sculptures by artists including Bridget Riley and Jackson Pollock. tate.org.uk Svalbard To 16 June WWT Caerlaverock, Dumfries and Galloway Using a variety of different creative mediums to convey her way of seeing the world, this collection of Ellis O’Connor’s mixed-media paintings were made in response to a three-week sailing trip across the Svalbard archipelago. O’Connor hopes

NATURE EVENTS Wood whites at Monkwood 3 June, 2pm Monkwood Nature Reserve, Sinton Green Join Peter Seal of Butterfly Conservation on this twohour walk round Monkwood, a semi-natural ancient woodland renowned for its range of flora and butterfly species. Try to spot the newly reintroduced wood white butterfly or the other 35 species seen in the area, including the white admiral and purple hairstreak. wildlifetrusts.org

Guided walk 5 June, 10.30am Eycott Hill Nature Reserve, Cumbria Enjoy spectacular views of the surrounding fells at this peaceful upland. Ideal for a morning walk, the reserve has an array of colourful wildflowers, dragonflies and butterflies. Other regular winged visitors include lapwing, curlew and skylarks – and some birds of prey too. wildlifetrusts.org Nets of Mar del Plata’s Fishermen, 1956

by Sameer Makarius © Estate of Sameer Makarius

her work gives viewers a chance to connect with the landscape and to cultivate a deeper understanding and appreciation of the natural world. Ellis O’Connor is a contemporary landscape artist living on the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist in Scotland. wwt.org.uk

Evening tree walk 20 June, 7pm Sydenham Hill Wood, London Join one of the Sydenham Hill Wood conservation officers for a guided three-hour evening walk and uncover the ancient landscape of the Great North Wood. Planned to coincide with London Tree Week, there will be plenty of opportunities to discover the fascinating range of native tree species, which indicate the ancient lineage of the habitat.

Enjoy sightings of great spotted woodpecker, nuthatch, stock dove and tree creeper. wildlondon.org.uk Bird watch morning 27 June, 10.30am WWT Castle Espie, County Down, Northern Ireland This hour-long morning walk focuses on the birds at Castle Espie. Winged visitors to the reserve’s Saline Lagoon include black-headed gulls, mallards, greylag geese and kingfishers.

Recent sightings in the woodland include blackbird, wren, blackcap, blue tit, dunnock and chaffinch.

Photographers are welcome. wwt.org.uk

Spitsbergen © Ellis O’Connor

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 13

THE LATEST FEEDBACK

SOCIAL HUB We love hearing your views and opinions. Write to us, tweet us or join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram!

Email your letters and comments to stevew@thegmcgroup.com

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Replace the plastic!

I received my latest copy of OP this morning. As usual, I’m looking forward to reading it, but I was disappointed to see that it is still being delivered in a plastic sleeve. Yesterday we received our regular National Trust newsletter in a compostable sleeve – don’t you think it’s time that OP (and the GMC group more widely), got rid of this plastic and adopted a more environmentally friendly solution?

Martin Haywood, email OP says: You’re absolutely right to highlight this apparent hypocrisy: OP is a magazine that champions the outdoors, and yet that message comes wrapped in plastic. This is something we are aware of (we’ve also seen National Trust’s new move to potato starch-based packaging) and will continue to explore feasible options for us to implement a change. The costs for more environmentally friendly packaging are often significantly greater, which when scaled across the entire GMC group can become substantial.

Of course, OP is also available as an app for those with a compatible device, which not only saves the plastic, but also saves the paper we print on.

As these better options become more mainstream, then costs will hopefully fall further, making it possible for all publishers to readily adopt them.

Tweet us at twitter.com/opoty

Connect with us at facebook. com/outdoorphotographymag

I quickly turn to the corresponding location guidebook for advice and ideas. Perhaps this is a hypocritical attitude, but what do others think about the increasing use of location guides?

David Cole, email OP says: OP has a location guide section each month, which we like to think gives a flavour of the areas it features, showing the types of shot that you could take, rather than the shots you should take. It’s a subtle difference, but we would never try to convince anyone that they should shoot the exact same images from the exact same locations. After all, part of a photographer’s skill comes from seeing and photographing a location in their own way, and the images that tend to stand out from the crowd are always going to be those that are fresh and new, as opposed to those that are derivative. So our advice is simple: by all means use a location guide to get you to your location to start with, but be sure to explore as many viewpoint options as possible when you’re there. And if it turns out that the shot you end up with is the same as everyone else’s? Well, perhaps you just have to accept that it’s possibly the best vantage point available.

Asian adventure I returned from Sri Lanka recently and opened the May issue of OP (OP230) to fi nd

there are three images in the magazine that are similar to ones I had shot while I was away! Sri Lanka might not be an obvious destination for photographing wildlife, but I could only take a limited amount of time off work and it seemed to offer a lot of diversity in terms of its landscape and wildlife, all within a reasonably compact area. As it turned out, oceans, coastal areas, mountains, rainforest and national parks are all within manageable reach, so I could go blue whale watching on a small boat in choppy seas one day, and then seek out herds of elephants in a monsoon in Hala National Park the next. The wildlife is not as immediately obvious as it is in places such as Kenya, but I found it was extra rewarding when something new was found and photographed!

Your magazine is the highlight of my month and what I like best (as a newbie to photography) is studying the shots and seeing the settings used. This has really given me the confidence to experiment with different settings to try to get the effect I’m looking for.

Jane Stevenson, email OP says: It sounds like you had a great trip, and we’re glad the magazine is helping you with your photography. We can’t wait to hear about (and see) where you go next!

A path less trodden?

I empathise with Alex Wrigley’s sentiments (OP230) about iconic locations and their propensity to act as magnets for photographers trying to capture their own version of a well-known shot. But there’s something of a dilemma for me here, and that’s the proliferation of ‘location guides’.

As someone who knows the Lake District well, I don’t favour guides to the Lakes telling everyone which three holes they should place their tripod in to get the ‘definitive’ shot of Buttermere, Ashness Bridge, Castlerigg and so forth. Yet when I plan visits to less familiar locations (such as those in Scotland) © Jane Stevenson

LETTER OF THE MONTH

© Jane Stevenson

July’s letter of the month winner receives a 64GB Samsung EVO Plus MicroSD memory card with SD adapter

This month we’ve teamed up with Samsung to give away a 64GB EVO Plus MicroSD card and SD adapter worth £39.99. With read speeds of up to 100MB/s and write speeds of up to 60MB/s this Class 10 high-speed card is ideal for shooting 4KHD video. The EVO Plus MicroSD is compatible with most smartphones and tablets, while an included SD adapter allows it to be used as a full-size SD card in digital cameras and other devices.

Discover more at samsung.com/uk/memory-cards 14 Outdoor Photography July 2018

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IN CONVERSATION WITH

Thomas Heaton Landscape photographer Thomas Heaton is at the forefront of the first wave of photographers to fully embrace digital social media as a marketing tool. But you need to remember, he says, that you’re a photographer first and not a YouTuber…

Interview by Nick Smith

Above First light on the Corbassière glacier, Switzerland. Opposite Hrauneyjafoss waterfalls, Iceland.

hen I go on a landscape shoot it really isn’t a landscape shoot,’ says Thomas Heaton. ‘It’s more about being outdoors. If I don’t get that photograph then it doesn’t matter.

I don’t have that pressure.’ While this seem a strange confession from a man whose website describes his work as ‘landscape, travel and outdoor photography’, and whose YouTube channel (complete with almost a quarter-ofa-million subscribers) is entitled ‘Landscape

W

16 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Photography’, after a few minutes of our conversation it’s easy to see what he means.

In a previous incarnation as a video cameraman, shooting music gigs and awards ceremonies, everything seemed disproportionately important. But today, with a freedom that comes from being totally in charge of one’s destiny, Thomas barely differentiates between the experience of being on the road and recording it with his camera. ‘Honestly, it’s 50-50,’ he says referring to the balance of

priorities between travelling and taking photos. ‘I grew up thinking that “abroad” was a holiday in Spain. But when you have a camera, it opens up the world. There is no way – no chance on this earth – that when I was younger I’d have had the confidence to travel by myself, especially to remote places. But when you have a camera it gives you purpose. These days I actively try to travel alone and the camera is a passport to the world. It’s amazing, really.’

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 17

If I had to describe Thomas’ work as a landscaper, the most immediate and dominant feature of his portfolio is his well-defi ned compositional expression. And yet, when pressed to come up with a description of what makes an image characteristically his, the photographer finds it genuinely difficult to pin down his style markers. ‘I don’t really think that I’ve got a style.’

As we speak he is looking at his print wall in his office that he will survey from time to time to discover what he likes and doesn’t like. ‘I’m looking at four images here and they’re all so different. That’s because I rarely shoot anything commercially and shoot very much for myself.

I choose to shoot those images how I please.

18 Outdoor Photography July 2018

I can shoot intimate landscapes of leaves in ice for example, or I can shoot grand landscapes in Death Valley. I’ve got a shot here of the Lake District fells covered with snow, and I have a simple, peaceful seascape that has no subject in it at all.’ He goes on to say that while an outsider might see something different, ‘when I see my work I think all of the images are wildly different. I honestly think that one of my weaknesses is that I don’t have a style. If you look at somebody such as Bruce Percy, for example, his work is instantly recognisable as his because of the minimalist, monochrome look. My work contains minimalist images, but there’s also a huge variation that I sometimes

think is all over the place.’ At the end of the day, Thomas agrees that he’s probably in the category of photographer that sees it as his responsibility to just get on with it, and if others think that he has a particular style then so be it.

When asked one standard question that I tend to ask of all photographers – the confi rmation of their status as either amateur, professional or semi-pro – Thomas draws breath reflectively before commenting that he gets asked this question by his parents all the time. ‘If I had to give myself a title I’d say I’m a freelance photographer,’ a statement which is calculated to differentiate between his current work and his previous employment

Opposite Death Valley, USA. Above Beneath the ice.

as a professional cameraman for an events company. ‘I did a couple of weeks’ work experience with them and managed to persuade them to give me a job,’ which meant that in the early 2000s Thomas had secured gainful employment straight from university.

His main duties back then included video production and editing, which he points out is ‘completely different to the sort of videos I do today,’ for the YouTube channel – that are mostly about landscape photography. Having

shot corporate videos, live concerts and awards ceremonies for four years ‘it became monotonous, because it was the same job over and over. The same annual events came around year after year and I found myself in this cycle of work that I wasn’t enjoying.’ Realising that he was also working at a job without any recognisable career structure, he jumped ship in 2010 to set up a photography studio, ‘which was a bold move because although I was a very keen photographer, I’d never done it

professionally other than a few in-house jobs for the video production company.’

Thomas fi rst picked up a stills camera at the age of 16 during his fi rst year of media production at college. ‘Part of that course was photography, which was when I got interested to the level of being in the darkroom processing and developing my own fi lm.’

Apart from getting stuck into some of the technicalities of analogue photography, Thomas was also experiencing ‘the joy of

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 19

photography, because up until this point I had always been a frustrated artist. At school, art was my favourite subject. But I’m one of those artists that can’t draw. It was painful because I wanted to do it, but didn’t have the talent. But discovering the SLR camera and fi lm…that was it. That’s what caught me and fi red my passion.’

This passion went hand in hand with another lifelong interest: that of the great outdoors. And so while others choose fashion, interiors or sport, it was natural for Thomas to choose landscape. ‘I had always been interested in adventure and for me that is very subjective and relative. Even when you go out in the woodland for a few hours or hike up a fell, that can be an adventure.’ At this point Thomas recalls how as an ‘awkward teenager, if I was just to go out for a walk it would seem aimless.

But then when I started using a camera that

walk would have purpose. I’ve always been drawn to landscapes, always. I’ve done portraiture, shot many weddings, done events and gigs. Everything. But that always felt like work. Landscapes are an escape.’

Thomas says that his journey from ‘teen with camera’ to the fully-fledged artist he is today, was more of a gradual process than a revolutionary change. This can be explained by the fact that, despite his success in the genre, ‘it was never a conscious decision to become a landscape photographer. I didn’t wake up one day and say, this is what I am going to do.’

Without connections, financial backing or a strategy, ‘I was just shooting from one day to the next. But I was always looking to improve and looking to enjoy myself and have adventures.’

If there is a secret, it is this: ‘the only thing I ever did to enable me to get to where I am

Above Star of the show, Gateshead. Opposite Dunes of Swakopmund, Namibia.

20 Outdoor Photography July 2018

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 21

TOP STRAP

Snowdonia coast, north Wales.

today was to allow myself to be open to every opportunity that came my way. And I would take these opportunities regardless of how far outside my comfort zone they were. If you do that enough, more and more opportunities open up. The key is to be brave.’

Much of Thomas’ philosophy about shooting landscapes appears on his YouTube channel. It’s a standard promotional tool that bypasses what Thomas calls ‘middle men’ and allows work to be seen by a wider public. The way he sees it is that, while a couple of decades ago the route to getting your work noticed would have been through book publishers, magazine picture desks and gallery owners, today it is different. ‘Now there is a direct path to your potential audience,’ says Thomas ‘whether that is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube. The reason I went with YouTube is that I saw an opportunity. I’d just bought a mountain bike and I wanted to know how

22 Outdoor Photography July 2018

to do jumps. I started watching YouTube, but after a few hours found myself bored with instructional videos and ended up looking at more inspirational stuff of people doing crazy jumps and backfl ips.’ This led Thomas to wondering if something similar existed in the landscape photography community.

Finding very little in the way of inspirational fi lmography – he did come across ‘plenty of adverts wrapped up as ‘how to’ videos’ – he decided to do it himself.

‘At this point I didn’t know the potential of YouTube. I just saw it as a fun way to get my work out there and of perhaps getting it seen.’

His fi rst video, while doing ‘reasonably well’ in terms of numbers of viewers, taught Thomas that here was a place to get genuine outreach, ‘to show off where I live in the north-east, and a great way to inspire people. YouTube is an interesting place to do digital marketing.

While everybody goes to search for whatever

they are after on Google – which is the world’s largest search engine – what’s not so well known is that YouTube is the second largest.’

At this point Thomas is at pains to point out that while he gets some revenue from YouTube advertising, and while he might be successful at broadcasting on the platform, he doesn’t want to be ‘known just as another YouTuber.

Sure, YouTube gives me the audience. But it is having the audience that allows me to branch out in different directions. ‘YouTube is the marketing and not the product. I’m essentially marketing my photography. Photography is what I do and I’d much rather talk about that than social media.’ The point is well made.

To see more of Thomas’ photography, visit thomasheaton.co.uk and check out his YouTube channel at youtube.com.

Light and Land is a photography exhibition looking at how landscape photography has evolved and developed over the last 25 years.

Featuring the work of 20 photographers who are paving the way for landscape photography with diversity and excellence, their work shows a wide spectrum of interpretations of landscape photography.

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Image by Charlie Waite

Photographers Featured: Adrian Beasley, Andy Farrer, Antony Spencer, Ben Osborne, Carla Regler, Charlie Waite, Clive Minnitt, Doug Chinnery, Joe Cornish, Justin Reznick, Luke Whitaker, Mark McColl, Matt Anderson, Paul Sanders, Peter Hendrie, Phil Malpas, Sam Gregory, Sue Bishop, Terry Gibbins, Valda Bailey.

Supported by:

www.lightandland.co.uk

Location gallery@oxo Oxo Tower Wharf Bargehouse Street South Bank, London SE1 9PH

Dates 18 July 2018 - 22 July 2018 Opening Times 11.00am - 6.00pm Admission Free

ONE ONEMONTH, MONTH ONE PICTURE

With the introduction of a large number of new colour profiles, Pete Bridgwood explores Adobe Lightroom’s presets and profiles, and explains how they differ in terms of workflow Since the turn of the century we have witnessed an unprecedented explosion of creativity in image making. The soaring popularity of image-sharing platforms such as Instagram and the rise of YouTube as an important learning and entertainment resource are both powerful drivers. It has never been easier to learn the craft of landscape photography.

We are fortunate that the learning side is becoming so much easier, because the creative canvas available to fledgling photographers has also been expanding at an exponential rate. Alongside all the digital advances, we have decades of experience in traditional film manufacture and colour technology to draw on for inspiration. For those of us with an insatiable appetite for the colour palettes of the celluloid epoch, VSCO offer ‘film packs’ that emulate the look of various fi lms in Lightroom and Photoshop. Incorporating these emulations into your workflow vastly

increases the creative permutations available, and, importantly, in Lightroom they remain non-destructive.

The VSCO emulations are a potent way of achieving a certain desired look, but in terms of workflow it is important to remember that they are combinations of both profiles and presets. When we apply a profi le (such as a Lightroom camera profile) to an image, it does not make alterations to develop module settings such as exposure and white balance.

Instead, it provides a global palette change as a starting point, giving us complete freedom to then process the image as usual. However, a preset alters almost every setting in the develop module to achieve a specific look.

One positive aspect of this is that every element of change contributing to the overall look is controllable, but unlike a profile, which creates a starting point, a preset is more final.

The latest iteration of Adobe Lightroom has introduced a paradigm shift in the number

of creative permutations by incorporating a large number of new native Adobe colour profiles. These function like blended layers in Photoshop with selectable variable opacity, and because they are profiles rather than presets they leave all the develop settings untouched.

My image this month looks like it was made with a dense ND fi lter, but it was actually shot at 1/320sec – I blurred the water in Lightroom using a grad with negative clarity applied.

I then processed the image using VSCO’s Agfa Ultra fi lm emulation, saved it as a TIFF to ‘bake-in’ all the changes and then applied the Adobe Artistic 4 profile to enhance those beautiful violet and orange pastel hues.

Glenancross, Morar, Highland.

Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III with 70-200mm f/4 L USM lens at 80mm, ISO 200, 1/320sec at f/11, two stop ND grad, tripod, processed using Adobe Lightroom with VSCO 7 Agfa Ultra 100++ and Adobe Artistic 4 profiles

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 25

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LEARNING ZONE IMPROVE 28 Improving your landscape compositions

36 Quick guide to...

Shooting the Milky Way

STARRY, STARRY NIGHT...

Drew Buckley reveals his top tips for photographing the Milky Way

LEARNING ZONE

Improving your landscape compositions Landscape photographers are widely exposed to the concepts of ‘the rule of thirds’ and ‘leading lines’, but discussions about composition frequently fail to extend much further. Richard Garvey-Williams invites us to broaden our horizons when it comes to constructing an image and reap the rewards

A simple definition of composition is ‘the act of putting together or making up by combining parts or ingredients’. We do this – either consciously or unconsciously – whenever we make something. When chefs put together haute cuisine dishes for gourmet restaurants, it pays for them to think about what they want to convey and the response they want to elicit in the consumer. If they want them to taste certain ingredients they may use other ingredients to support and draw attention to them. Even the impact and balance of the colours of food items may be taken into consideration to create the appropriate visual response.

For photographers it is a similar process. To effectively reveal what you want to express and draw attention to, and to engender the desired

28 Outdoor Photography July 2018

response in the viewer, it is worth taking the time to hone your compositions. As with most skills, this develops largely through practice (and often through trial and error), but there are teachings and guidelines based on substantiated research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience that can be used to get started.

When you delve in, it soon becomes apparent that this is a vast and fascinating subject. For example, various conclusions have been reached regarding where to place key elements within a picture space to create a pleasurable response and sense of harmony. Ongoing studies are also revealing more precisely how our eyes scan two-dimensional pictures and how our brains perceive and interpret the incoming data, often jumping to conclusions (our responses

Above Most scenes offer a variety of elements that can be utilised and balanced through considered composition. In this case, pyramidal shapes, floating clouds, rays of light, sweeping curves and areas of deep shadow were all there for consideration.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 24-105mm lens at 35mm, ISO 100, 1/100sec at f/16

to imagery are not entirely under our conscious control, and thus not as ‘personal’ as we might like to think). Cultural influences also come into the reckoning, with factors such as whether we read left to right or right to left determining to some degree how we interpret and respond to a photograph. In this feature I have selected a few aspects of this intriguing subject that can be incorporated readily into your landscape work.

THE GOLDEN MEAN There are various guidelines regarding where in the picture space a key feature should be placed to both get it noticed and also to create a sense of pleasure. Greek mathematicians came up with ‘The Golden Rule’, which identifies a proportion that can be used to divide planes or lines to determine the ‘ideal’ position within a picture space. Leonardo Fibonacci is also credited with defining this proportion around 1200AD. Also called the Divine Proportion, Golden Mean and Phi, the rule proposes dividing planes or lines of length c into two parts – a and b – where the ratio of a:b is the same as that of b:c. In effect , this ratio is 1:1.618. By applying this to the photographic frame we can imagine four lines across the picture space and four points within it that are ‘pleasing’ locations for key features.

Above The Golden Triangle (or ‘Dynamic Section’) was used in this image to position a key foreground rock along the diagonal path of the river Plym. The rule states that if the rectangular picture space is of appropriate proportions, the point of intersection of the oblique line by a line drawn from one of the corners to meet it perpendicularly is at its Golden Mean.

Canon EOS 5DS with EF 17-40mm lens at 17mm, ISO 100, 8sec at f/14 Below In this photograph of Dartmoor’s iconic rock stack known as Bowerman’s Nose, the ‘eye’ of the Bowerman is at one of the Golden Mean points.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 17-40mm lens at 17mm, ISO 100, 0.4sec at f/16.

The Golden Mean differs from the ‘rule of thirds’, which was formulated for similar reasons, and has given rise to the concepts of the Golden Triangle, Golden Rectangle

PRO TIPS In experimenting with options for cropping an image during post-processing, it may be worth seeing if you can find a crop that positions key features using the Golden Mean concept.

Don’t get obsessed with positioning guidelines. There are other compositional factors to take into account and compromises are usually required.

Rules are made for breaking. You may not wish to elicit a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction in the viewer. Instead you may wish to challenge and unsettle them.

and Golden Spiral. These are all well worth looking into, but are far harder to consciously incorporate into your work.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 29

POINT OF INTEREST In much of your landscape imagery there will be critical elements, such as a mountain peak, outcrop of rocks or a lone tree, that often identify the location. Drawing attention quickly to these elements may help grab the viewer’s attention, so it is worth studying what neuroscience tells us about where our eyes tend to first settle when presented with a scene or picture.

Generally speaking, we are drawn to areas of high contrast in terms of tone, colour or ‘texture’. Our attention also tends to be taken by lighter tones and certain colours, as well as faces and text. Even very small shapes that are isolated and clearly defined are strong magnets for our attention – sensor dust spots are a case in point!

Cognitive psychology and its theories of visual information processing gives us clues as to how snippets of visual information are processed in an attempt to establish meaning. This naturally affects the speed at which we perceive specific elements, relationships between them or even the overall message of what is going on.

You can consciously employ these findings to create some degree of ambiguity and confusion in order to cause the viewer to pause and study the photograph in an attempt to work it out. For example, occasionally you will find partially hidden features in the natural world that you can include with the aim of eliciting the satisfying response that comes through ‘emergence.’ This is a term given to the sudden perceptual realisation of what

30 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Above This image was taken from deep within an immense cave in Greece. It illustrates how the eye is drawn to light areas and how clearly defined figures grab the viewer’s attention.

Canon EOS 5D with EF 17-40mm lens at 17mm, ISO 100, 1/25sec at f/18 Below A view from Rippon Tor across to Haytor, one of Dartmoor’s best-known tors. I waited for a band of sunlight to spotlight the distant rocks and the slope leading up to them. The curving road also tends to take the eye there, while the bright cloud entering the frame from the left helps balance the scene.

Canon EOS 5DS with EF 24-105mm lens at 24mm, ISO 100, 1/10sec at f/16

a relatively obscure object that we have been looking at for some time actually is.

PRO TIPS Research the timing of your shoot to help ensure the lighting will emphasise the key features of your image by contrasting them with their surroundings.

In post-processing make localised adjustments to lighten and darken sp ecific tones in the relevant area. Be subtle.

Carefully position yourself to avoid overlap and create good separation of key elements from their surroundings.

Look to include elements with strong shapes that will draw attention and appeal to the imagination.

SPACE There is a tendency to glean a sense of actual space from a two-dimensional image, but how this is perceived has a lot to do with the amount of room you leave around your subject.

Cropping an image tightly will tend to convey the sense of a cramped or confined subject, but in an open landscape you will often want to create the opposite effect, so leaving plenty of ‘breathing room’ is more appropriate.

Including strong horizontal lines is another option worth considering, as they appear to widen the frame, while creating a panoramic image is especially effective when you want to reveal the open, lateral expanse of a location.

Allocating a good portion of the image to the sky – particularly if there is drama there – may also give the viewer a greater sense of being exposed to the elements.

Above Walking out on to this dried lake in Namibia, I was struck by the expanse and flatness of its ‘tiled’ bed. I aimed to emphasise this by allowing the bed to occupy most of the image space.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 24-105 lens at 24mm, ISO 100, 0.3sec at f/16 Below With Combestone Tor nicely silhouetted on the horizon, I felt it was important to allow plenty of space above it to encompass the ‘explosive’ energy of the cloud formation.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 24-105mm lens at 24mm, ISO 160, 1/250sec at f/13

PRO TIPS Shooting vertical format images can be used to emphasise height. Consider leaving additional space towards the top of the frame to allow the viewer’s eye and imagination to reach upwards.

Be aware of the potency of space in an image and use it cautiously and appropriately. The term ‘negative space’ describes an area of an image that is empty or doesn’t contain subject matter, and is thus ‘inactive’. Compositionally this can be a feature in itself; it can form a noticeable, distinct shape, for example, or it might be used to offset and balance a corresponding positive space, or even draw attention to it through its contrast.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 31

RELATIONSHIPS Human beings are relational creatures and our perceptive processes tend to be on the look out for indications of relationships between elements that we can enjoy and explore in an image. The ideas of ‘nose room’ and ‘leading space’ (and to some degree the concept of ‘leading lines’) are partly related to this, in that we tend to follow the direction that something is facing to see what it is looking at or relating

to. This can also apply to inanimate objects, such as trees and rocks, especially if they possess some anthropoid features.

One of the principles of Gestalt theory is ‘similarity’, which states that we tend to see things that share visual characteristics such as shape, size, colour or tone, as being related in some way. This concept can frequently be harnessed in outdoor photography.

Above I opted for symmetry here, to emphasise the connection between the woodland and the river through its reflection in the passing water.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 24-105mm lens at 105mm, ISO 250, 0.6sec at f/13 Left In this photograph from the Maasai Mara in Kenya there is a pleasing sense of relationship between the two similar acacia trees, helped by the fact that they are inclining towards one another.

The three bands of yellow, pink and blue pastel colours, each occupying about a third of the image space, add to the visual appeal.

Canon EOS 5DS with EF 100-400mm lens at 263mm, ISO 160, 0.3sec at f/16

PRO TIPS Look for compositions where the features in the landscape connect in some way. They may appear to be facing one another; lines of some form may connect them; or they may simply be quite similar in some way, such as in colour or shape.

Pattern images rely on the concept of similarity, with repetition and rhythm creating a pleasing sense of relationship.

Filling the frame with a pattern will suggest to the viewer that the pattern continues beyond the frame edge.

A precisely symmetrical composition is worth considering when there are two elements that bear a clear relationship to each other, such as a scene and its reflection.

32 Outdoor Photography July 2018

IMAGINATION Some photographs rely on their initial impact, with simplicity, bold colours and strongly defined elements all contributing to their ability to quickly bestow this ‘wow’ factor. However, other types of image can be equally potent.

Many scenes suit a much slower and more considered analysis in order for them to be appreciated fully.

By incorporating an understanding of how we tend to scan and relate to elements in an image, you can create a composition that invites the viewer into a scene and then guides them through it, drawing their attention to key elements and perhaps the relationships between them. You can make this a smooth and pleasurable journey or introduce a few visual obstacles to make things more challenging. For some scenes it may be rewarding to take the viewer on a journey that leaves more to their imagination than is shown.

Above A simple, rather abstract image that relies on a sinuous curved line leading from bottom left towards top right, with the destination open to the imagination.

Canon EOS 5D with EF 24-105mm lens at 96mm, ISO 50, 30sec at f/16 Left The vague sense of a path between the foreground stones helps lead the viewer into this foggy scene, which is very much open to the imagination.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 24-105mm lens at 24mm, ISO 100, 1/25sec at f/16

PRO TIPS Every journey has a starting point, so it is often worth including something that can provide such a platform.

We tend to scan images left to right and bottom to top, so consider placing the key, concluding feature in an image towards the top right of the frame.

Make good use of leading lines. These needn’t lead all the way to your required destination, as we have a tendency to strive for continuity and ‘closure’ so will fill in any gaps. Slopes, shadows and even ‘virtual lines’, such as those formed by the gaze of a witness to the scene, can all be used to lead the viewer’s eye.

Consider arranging key features in a geometric pattern, such as a triangle.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 33

STEPS FOR SUCCESS Make a point of trying to clarify your vision.

Think about what it is you want to reveal or express about a scene or location. You can then think about whether there are any compositional strategies that might help.

Remember that the ‘elements’ that can potentially form your compositions don’t just include solid, material components.

Clouds, rays of light, shadows, patches of colour, edges and empty spaces can all be included in the reckoning.

Many elements in the landscape are static, but you can effectively move them relative to one another within the frame by moving your camera or changing focal length. Be precise in your choice of viewpoint: a few inches left , right, up or down can make all the difference, so take time to explore all the options available to you.

Strive to create a sense of balance in a scene. ‘Visual weight’ is a term describing either how much an element tends to draw the eye, or the impression of actual weight that an element appears to have. As we look at a photograph, even a floating cloud can be perceived as having the potential to fall to the ground in an image and thus carries some weight. In this way a rock formation at the right of an image may be balanced to some degree by a cloud at the left . Offsetting an element further from the central axis of a picture – particularly to the right – gives it more visual weight, so it may need a stronger counterweight to balance it. Visual weight also depends on size, colour, tone, contrast, regularity of shape and interest.

34 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Above A thin veil of morning mist in May provided me with a rare opportunity for a minimal art interpretation of this scene, revealing the beautiful outline of Hound Tor rocks on Dartmoor.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 100-400mm lens at 263mm, ISO 100, 1/50sec at f/11

Below A simple image with three principal elements: the two tors and the jets with vapour trails were arranged to form a triangle centred in a square image space.

Canon EOS 5DS with EF 24-105mm lens at 85mm, ISO 100, 1/50sec at f/13

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QUICK GUIDE TO…

Photographing the Milky Way Capturing billions of stars that are light years away never gets boring, and with the latest sensor technology performing better than ever, photographing the night sky is even possible with an entry level digital camera. Drew Buckley explains how to get started

Getting started

I’m sure many of you have seen images of the Milky Way, which is our own home galaxy. The core, or centre of it is the most appealing part to photograph, but this area isn’t visible to us in the northern hemisphere all year round. The optimal time, as it reveals itself above the horizon, is roughly March through to September, so as we head into the summer months the Milky Way is at its very best. With this guide I’ll help you on your way to creating your own star-fi lled images.

Lenses Wideangles work best, as they let you fit more sky into your shots, and the faster the better; a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster will really help you gather light at night.

Above The International Space Station and Milky Way at Broad Haven, Pembrokeshire.

Canon EOS 5D MkIV with Samyang 14mm lens, ISO 4000, 30sec at f/2.8

Focusing I recommend turning on Live View, zooming into the scene and focusing on the stars themselves.

36 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Cameras A digital camera with good high ISO performance is preferred for night imaging. Using a high ISO will allow you to capture more information in low light situations.

That way you can be certain that the stars will come out pin sharp in your final shots.

Rock solid With night sky photography you will almost certainly be shooting long exposures of 2030sec, so a sturdy tripod is essential when it comes to obtaining blur-free images.

Light pollution Head away from city lights or any light pollution that might affect your images. Keep an eye on the moon phase as well; a full moon will wash out stars, so aim to shoot your Milky Way images around the time of a new moon for truly dark skies.

Stack Rocks, Pembrokeshire. Blended separate long exposure foreground.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with Samyang 14mm lens, ISO 6400, 30sec at f/2.8

The Milky Way appears more vertical in late summer; Ramsey Island.

Canon EOS 5D MkIV with Samyang 14mm lens, ISO 6400, 30sec at f/2.8

Milky Way technique One of the reasons to choose a wideangle lens is that it captures a wider field of view, but it also lets you use a longer shutter speed.

As the Earth rotates on its axis, any long exposure image at night is going to capture motion, or in this case the visible trailing of stars. For star trail photography this is perfect, as that is the main aim, but in Milky Way photography you want the stars to be rendered as sharp dots of light, not lines.

This is where the 500 rule comes in.

To apply the 500 rule, divide 500 by the focal length you are using. This will give you a ballpark shutter speed that you can use to combat any star trailing. For example, if you are using a 16mm focal length on a full-frame camera, a shutter speed in the region of 31.25sec (500/16=31.25) would be appropriate (as most cameras give the shutter speed in whole numbers, you would round this down to 30sec). With a 50mm focal length on the same camera the shutter speed would be around 10sec. Remember to adjust this value if you are using a crop sensor

camera, by multiplying the focal length by your crop factor before calculating.

Once you have worked out the shutter speed based on your focal length, set the aperture at its widest setting and choose an ISO. With night photography, always opt for increased sensitivity rather than worrying about visible noise. The visible difference in terms of noise at higher values can be marginal and there is great noise reduction soft ware that can help you smooth any grain out.

Start at around ISO 1600, take a shot and check the image on the LCD screen. If it looks a little underexposed, increase the ISO to 3200, and keep increasing the ISO until you are happy with the outcome. In most cases I’ll use ISO 3200, but I’ve got good results up to ISO 6400 as well. Remember that all camera sensors are different in how they handle high ISO values and noise, so choose the right setting to suit your particular camera.

Your final consideration is the creative side of things. This process includes what

to point your lens at and including different subjects, so experiment. A few ideas might be to photograph iconic landscapes or landmarks with a star-filled sky above.

Astro photography is effectively landscape photography at night, so be as creative as you would be when the sun is up.

The Milky Way at a glance The Milky Way is 100,000 light-years from edge to edge, which means it would take a rocket travelling at the speed of light 100,000 years to cross the galaxy.

By comparison, light can get from Earth to the moon in just one second.

The Milky Way rotates at a speed of 168 miles per second, so the point in space where you were sitting, standing or lying one hour ago is now roughly 600,000 miles away.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 37

LIE OF THE LAND

Why do we do what we do?

When a close friend asked Matt Oliver why he gets up at dawn to take his landscape shots it left the photographer questioning precisely who he was taking pictures for Although it was only a passing comment, my friend’s question stuck with me: why do I forfeit hours of sleep? What makes me invest so much time in pursuit of an image and regularly go through the pain of thinking that I’ve chosen the wrong spot, not to mention having to deal with the disappointment of numerous failed attempts at creating meaningful landscape photographs?

I’ve been a commercial photographer for the past 20 years, which includes running a successful wedding photography business, so my friend knows how I earn a living. But it doesn’t explain why I also venture out into the landscape in all weathers at the crack of dawn for no obvious gain.

I have since analysed my friend’s comment, and in a way it has helped me change my

approach to photography. I’ve realised that I had been worrying too much about whether my images are important to others. Of course, I appreciate all the comments people take the time to leave on social media, as it’s inspiring and a boost for my confidence, and I’ve met some great photographers this way. But all of the positivity on social media should be viewed as a bonus rather than a goal in itself, and I have come to realise that in actively seeking out the validation of others I had possibly lost sight of why I originally enjoyed the landscape.

As part of my ponderings over my friend’s question, I recalled that my fi rst ever sunrise shoot was a belter. It was a crisp morning with a sky full of colour. Admittedly, my images were terrible and I resembled a headless chicken rather than a landscape photographer

as I ran around taking pictures, but the landscape photography bug had taken hold.

I had discovered real pleasure in viewing the natural world in this way and at this time.

In an attempt to recapture some of the unbridled joy and creative freedom I felt during that sunrise shoot I decided to remove the restrictive pressure I was placing on my picture taking: it should only really matter to me whether my images work or not. Of course, I still berate myself for being in the wrong place at the right time or snoozing the alarm and missing an awesome sunrise, but now it doesn’t matter quite so much. I still consider myself to be in the early stages of my landscape journey and I’m hoping this slight change to my thought process will help me produce a more personal collection of work.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 39

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Robert Grew Manchester-based Robert Grew is an emerging talent in the world of adventure photography. He is also a cancer survivor living with a managed condition, although he much prefers to talk about his work as a ‘hidden athlete’ in the mountains. Nick Smith puts him in the spotlight Nick Smith: You’ve got to be one of the most enthusiastic photographers out there…

Robert Grew: I really get a buzz out of capturing something amazing and sharing that experience. There’s a defi nite personal thrill. I love going for the perfect image…but what is a perfect image? That idea changes all the time. It’s most rewarding when people say: ‘wow, how did you get that image? I didn’t know that type of landscape exists…’ That’s a huge part of why I love photography.

NS: So how do you get those mountain images, then?

RG: How do you do it? To do that kind of stuff you’ve got to have a passion for climbing or ski-mountaineering, otherwise you’ll never

40 Outdoor Photography July 2018

be able to get to those extreme and dangerous places. You need to learn the skills and have the knowledge to get out there in the first place. I’ve spent years learning to climb, which has allowed me to access places most people can only dream of, such as hanging off vertical walls at Yosemite in the USA. NS: Do you think that adventure photography is particularly pressurised?

RG: In a way it is, because as the photographer recording an adventure you’re like a ‘hidden athlete’. I’m not just a photographer, but an athlete as well. When I photograph someone jumping off a cornice, for example, what people might not realise is that I will have jumped off that cornice first, then climbed

into position on skis, then taken my camera out of the bag while balancing at an angle of 60 degrees. So there is a lot of work you have to put in prior to taking the photo, which means you have quite a few hairy moments.

NS: How did you get started as a photographer?

RG: It all started at university; my subject was geology and photography was a hobby. I’m an outdoorsman through and through, which came to me from my family (my dad was a keen cyclist), so I was racing BMX, climbing and so on as a kind of adrenaline fi x. As a photographer I am totally self-taught, but I’ve always had a passion for art and photography.

You’ve got to have that passion, because if you don’t, you won’t have the persistence to continue with it.

NS: What was it that made you take up photography seriously?

RG: In 2012 I was diagnosed with cancer, which was a pretty big step. I was stuck in hospital for two weeks undergoing radiotherapy and I just asked myself whether I wanted to spend

my career stuck behind a desk in a day job. At that time I just wanted to be outside doing something. While I was in hospital I was looking through my photos and I thought: ‘why can’t I do this full time?’ So I started sending my photos off to some outdoor equipment companies while I was in hospital and I got quite a good reaction. It was actually quite easy.

NS: How did your journey in photography progress from there?

RG: I was lucky in a way, as I had a quite manageable cancer. I had to have an operation and I still take tablets, but it gave me the opportunity to realise that what I wanted to do was climb. It also meant I had time to work out how to do it. It wasn’t really one of those dramatic moments, it was more a case of thinking: ‘let’s try to

sort out an outcome that’s more in line with what I really want to do.’

Above Dave Searle traversing the Aiguille d’Entrèves in Italy.

NS: Does your health affect your ability to be an outdoor photographer?

RG: It doesn’t…and it does. The tablets I take are to control my metabolism.

Back in the day, when this wasn’t an issue, I was a nice climbing weight and it was all hunky-dory and I could climb quite hard. It’s harder to manage my weight these days, but I’ve got persistence. I’m totally fi xated on the next shot and have ‘FOMO’ (Fear Of Missing Out), which leads me into the outdoors and makes my photography better. If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth doing. I initially started in fashion and wedding photography, but when I gave that up to shoot subjects that I loved, that’s when my photography career started to grow.

Opposite Skateboarding down a winding mountain pass in Yosemite National Park, California, with iconic Half Dome in the background.

Robert’s top tips I never go on a shoot without… an awesome pair of shades and a trucker’s hat. You’ve got to keep the sun out of your eyes!

My one piece of advice would be to… learn your gear inside out. The last thing you want is to be caught out by a misplaced setting on your camera.

Something I try to avoid is… unnecessary risk.

Safety is at the top of my list all the time, but my risk management could be improved quite a bit.

To see more of Robert’s work visit robertgrew.com

Robert’s critical moments 2005 Started climbing and taking photographs while at university.

2012 Cancer forced reevaluation of life priorities, leading to a concentration on photography.

2012-14 Developed lighting and studio techniques by attending workshops.

2013 Started to work on commissions for outdoor equipment companies.

2014 Dropped wedding photography in favour of shooting adventure subjects exclusively.

2018 Travelling mostly between the UK and Chamonix on assignment.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 41

PHOTO SHOWCASE

World Press Photo Contest 2018 Since 1955 the World Press Photo Contest has awarded the best visual journalism of the year.

The contest this year drew entries from over 4,500 photographers from 125 countries, and these are some of our favourite images from the nature and environment categories © Daniel Beltrá

Above

Daniel Beltrá Environment – Third Prize, Stories A remnant of rainforest stands in fields cleared for agriculture, near the Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazon. After declining from major peaks in 1995 and 2004, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased sharply in 2016, under pressure from logging, mining, agriculture and hydropower developments.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 43

Left © Daniel Beltrá

Daniel Beltrá Environment – Third Prize, Stories Scarlet ibises fly above flooded lowlands, near Bom Amigo, Amapá, Brazilian Amazon.

The Amazon forest is one of Earth’s great carbon sinks, absorbing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year and acting as a climate regulator. Without it, the world’s ability to lock up carbon would be reduced, compounding the effects of global warming.

Below

Corey Arnold Nature – First Prize, Singles A bald eagle feasts on meat scraps in the garbage bins of a supermarket in Dutch Harbor in Unalaska, Alaska, USA. Once close to extinction, the bald eagle has made a massive comeback after concerted conservation efforts. Unalaska has a population of around 5,000 people, and 500 eagles. The birds are attracted by the trawlers, but also feed on garbage and snatch grocery bags from pedestrians.

© Corey Arnold

44 Outdoor Photography July 2018

PHOTO SHOWCASE © Michael Patrick O’Neill

Above

Michael Patrick O’Neill Nature – Third Prize, Singles Late at night a flying fish swims below the surface in the Gulf Stream, offshore from Palm Beach, Florida, USA. Moving its tail fin up to 70 times per second, a flying fish can reach an underwater speed of nearly 60kph. Angling itself upwards, it then breaks the surface while still propelling itself along by rapidly beating its tail underwater, before taking to the air and gliding – successfully escaping predators such as tuna, marlin and swordfish.

Right

Ami Vitale Nature – First Prize, Stories A rescued baby elephant is tended at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, in northern Kenya. Orphaned and abandoned elephant calves are rehabilitated at the communityowned sanctuary and returned to the wild.

The sanctuary is part of the Namunyak Wildlife Conservation Trust, located in the ancestral homeland of the Samburu people.

The elephant orphanage was established in 2016 by local Samburus, and all the men working there are, or were at some time, Samburu warriors.

© Ami Vitale, for National Geographic

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 45

Right

© Thomas P. Peschak

Thomas P. Peschak Environment – Third Prize, Singles A historic photograph of an African penguin colony, taken in the late 1890s, is a stark contrast to the declining numbers seen in 2017 in the same location, on Halifax Island, Namibia. The colony once numbered more than 100,000 penguins. Historically, the demand for guano (bird excrement used for fertiliser) was a cause of the decline: the birds burrow into deposits of guano to nest. Human consumption of eggs and overfi shing of surrounding waters are also seen as causes.

© Thomas P. Peschak for National Geographic

Left

Thomas P. Peschak Nature – Third Prize, Stories Tortoises rest partially submerged in pools near a volcanic fumarole on the crater floor of the Alcedo Volcano, on Isabela Island, Galápagos. Four major ocean currents converge along the Galápagos archipelago, creating the conditions for an extraordinary diversity of animal life. The islands are home to at least 7,000 flora and fauna species, of which 97 per cent of the reptiles, 80 per cent of the land birds, 50 per cent of the insects and 30 per cent of the plants are endemic. The local ecosystem is highly sensitive to the changes in temperature, rainfall and ocean currents that characterise the climatic events known as El Niño and La Niña.

These changes cause marked fluctuations in weather and food availability.

Exhibition and book The prize-winning photographs are assembled into an exhibition that travels to 100 locations in 45 countries and is seen by more than four million people each year. The winning pictures are also published in the annual yearbook, which is available in multiple languages (Thames and Hudson, 978-0-5009-7090-4, £18.95). The 2018 World Press Photo Contest exhibition will be on at the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh from the 1-25 August.

For more information on the touring exhibition and the competition, go to worldpressphoto.org.

46 Outdoor Photography July 2018

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Stob Coire nan Locahan, Highland, by Paul Holloway

LOCATIONS GUIDE 10

3/5 A walk of up to about two miles, over quite easy terrain.

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50 Viewpoints of the month

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1

5

1 Stob Coire nan Lochan Highland 2 Clogher Head County Kerry

4/5 Medium length hike up to about four miles over mixed terrain, possibly with some quite steep gradients.

54 Viewpoints 3 White Scars North Yorkshire 3

4 Butter Rock Dorset

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5 Dun More Perth and Kinross 6 Cuil Cheanna Highland

5/5 The most difficult access. Long hike over challenging terrain (e.g. mountains/summits/steep coastal terrain); or involves travelling over particularly extreme ground (e.g. scrambling on rocks/ exposed coastal paths or mountain ridges) over any distance.

7 Ardnamurchan Point Highland 8 Blackpool promenade Lancashire

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9 Bantham Devon 10 Ruabhal St Kilda

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Map plottings are approximate

Stob Coire nan Lochan, Highland Paul Holloway heads to Stob Coire nan Lochan, a 3,658-foot mountain at the western end of Glencoe whose impressive east-facing cliffs form a backdrop for the iconic Three Sisters Setting off into a late afternoon drizzle from the main tourist car park in Glencoe, I followed the path along the stream up Coire nan Lochan. The higher reaches of the mountain were shrouded in cloud and as I climbed the rain became heavier, although the forecast was for it to clear later.

Leaving the stream behind, I headed on to the ridge that joins Stob Coire nan Lochan to Aonach Dubh – the westernmost of the Three Sisters.

The rain had given way to a fine drizzle and I could see the cloud was clearing, giving occasional glimpses into Glencoe below. It looked like a good viewpoint for the evening so I set up camp. Luckily the forecast was right and the mist cleared enough for some photography of the sun setting over the hills to the north-west.

After a few hours sleep my alarm went off at 3.45am. Stumbling out of the tent into the pre-dawn gloom I wolfed down a quick breakfast before making my way along the rocky ridge to gain the summit some 800ft above

my camp. Looking around, a lovely pink pre-sunrise glow had me setting up my camera on my lightweight tripod and attaching my electronic cable release. A three-stop ND grad was fitted to balance out the exposure between land and sky, and within five minutes I was ready for the morning’s photography action.

The first red light of the day caught the highest peaks just after 5am.

I worked initially with my wideangle lens to capture the big views that opened out all around the summit.

The light changed quickly, turning from red to orange as the sun began to rise, with rays of light creeping lower down the hillsides.

After about 20 minutes I decided to switch to my standard zoom lens so I could focus on the more distant hills to the west; Beinn a Bheithir (which translates as ‘the hill of the thunderbolt’) looked great in the morning light. I also swapped my fi lter for a two-stop ND grad, as I was now shooting away from the sun and

5 miles from Glencoe village • 88 miles from Glasgow

ACCESS RATING How to get there The Three Sisters car park lies just over fi ve miles to the east of Glencoe village on the south side of the A82, with a smaller parking area found 350m further on the left . Use either of these parking sp ots and head south, taking the footbridge across the river Coe and following the path into Coire nan Lochan. You will need an OS map to assist you in following the path and accessing the mountain.

What to shoot Views are fantastic in every direction.

Best time of day First and last light.

Food/drink Glencoe Café, Glencoe, PH49 4HP, 01855 811168, glencoecafe.co.uk.

Accommodation Clachaig Inn,

50 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Glencoe, PH49 4HX, 01855 811252, clachaig.com.

Other times of year All year round is good here.

Ordnance Survey map LR 41 Nearby locations Bidean nam Bian (½ mile); Loch Achtriochtan (1 mile).

the sky was not so bright. I composed the image with the sunlit ridge of nearby Stob Coire nan Beith in the foreground, the as yet unlit Meall Mor behind, and the gently lit peaks and corries of Beinn a Bheithir taking centre stage. The waters of Loch

Linnhe framed the mountain on both sides, with a subtle glowing light in the sky capped by a band of cloud.

Little banks of mist swirled around the tops, adding to the atmosphere, but mountain weather changes quickly and the wisps quickly grew into great

clouds of fog billowing up from the corrie below. Making my way carefully down the rocky ridge following a route close to the cli, large andesite pillars occasionally loomed out of the mist, creating the sense of being in a true mountain wilderness even though

the busy Glencoe road was less than one mile away. Back at the tent I felt exhilarated by my overnight experience of the mountain and its ever-changing moods, and lingered a while longer, savouring the views before packing up and heading back to the car.

Fuji X-T2 with 18-55mm lens at 45mm, ISO 200, 1/12sec at f/13, two-stop ND grad

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 51

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Clogher Head, County Kerry Having read many enticing descriptions of Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula, Stephen Spraggon takes a trip to the Emerald Isle’s south-west coast I was excited to be able to see and photograph this part of County Kerry for myself during a holiday with my wife, but with only three days to explore the area I couldn’t be picky about the weather I chose to photograph in. Grey clouds hung overhead for the entire stay, occasionally bringing with them a downpour of heavy rain or fog, but the palette of greys, blues and greens was pleasingly subdued.

The Dingle Peninsula marks the westernmost point in Europe and it experiences the full force of the Atlantic Ocean, hence the coastal road around it commonly being referred to as the Wild Atlantic Way. Clogher Head offers arguably the most picturesque view of the Dingle coastline, featuring rugged rock faces, rolling fields and several prominent peaks. The three peaks of Binn Hanrai, Binn Meanach and Binn Diarmada – known as the Three Sisters or An Triúr Deirféar – provide a suitably dramatic backdrop.

Although the weather varied little during our stay, there were subtle changes that made a difference to the light and mood. I opted to take this photograph while a band of

heavy cloud hovered overhead. The contrast between the foreground and background was very pleasing, creating the all-important depth that is often lacking when there is no direct sunlight to cast shadows.

When water features in a landscape I often like to soften its texture slightly by using a slow shutter speed. Some photographers opt to completely blur water texture by using an extreme

ND fi lter, but I find this effect can make images feel too contrived. For this scene I felt that the water texture was in keeping with the textures in the landscape, so I didn’t use fi lters. Instead, with the lens set on an aperture of f/11, the light meter indicated a shutter speed of 1/20sec.

I always use a tripod, so I wasn’t concerned about holding the camera still, just about the wind buffeting it.

Triggering the shutter by cable release allowed my arms to be free to shield the camera, which usually involved spreading my jacket, like a sail, to create a wind break. After shooting a couple of frames and checking their sharpness I was happy to move on.

Nikon D800e with 70-200mm lens at 90mm, ISO 100, 1/20sec at f/11, tripod, cable release

14 miles from Dingle • 41 miles from Tralee ACCESS RATING How to get there Leave Dingle, heading west on the R559, Slea Head Drive. Shortly after you cross the bridge over the river Milltown and pass Dingle Distillery there is a turning on your right, at which point the R559 becomes circular (you can follow the road in either direction and you will eventually get back to this junction). Ignoring this right turn and continuing straight on the R559 (signed Slea Head Drive) will take you on the slightly longer Wild Atlantic Way coastal route. Follow the R559 for just over 13½ miles, through Ventry, Coumeenoole and Dunquin, until you reach a parking area (and roadside parking) on the left; Clogher Head is a short walk from here.

What to shoot Coastal views, sea birds, flora and fauna.

Best time of day Sunrise and sunset both work well, particularly in late spring and throughout summer.

Food/drink Tig Áine Café and Restaurant, An Ghráig, Ballyferriter, Tralee, 00353 66 9156214, tigaine.com.

Accommodation Dún Chaoin Youth Hostel, Dún Chaoin, Baile an Fhéirteiraigh, Ballyferriter, 00353 66 9156121, anoige.ie.

Other times of year Late spring and early autumn are both good times to be here.

Ordnance Survey map OSi Discovery Series 70 Nearby locations Dún Chaoin (Dunquin) harbour (2½ miles); Coumeenoole beach (3 miles).

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 53

White Scars, North Yorkshire he Yorkshire Dales are famous for their areas of limestone pavement, and the ‘clints’ and ‘grykes’ at White Scars can make a dramatic shot in their own right. Alternatively, you can combine them with one of the classic ‘three peaks’ in the background (Ingleborough, Whernside or Pen-Y-Ghent), and perhaps add a twisted tree growing out of the limestone for a winning combination.

How to get there The village of Ingleton is along the A65, 13 miles south-east of Junction 36 of the M6. Park in one of the pay and display car parks in the village and then follow the B6255 north-east on foot. Walk out of the village for just over half a mile and take the track on the right

© Ade Gidney

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(Fell Lane); this is the main route up to Ingleborough. After one and a quarter miles you will pass through a gate.

Continue for about one third of a mile and you will reach a flat plateau of limestone pavement – White Scars – on your left.

What to shoot Single twisted trees growing out of the cracks in the limestone. The limestone pavement with Ingleborough in the background.

Best time of day Soft morning or evening sidelight throws the cracks in the pavement into shadow.

Food/drink The Three Horse Shoes, 41 Main Street, Ingleton, LA6 3EH, 01524 242370, thwaites.co.uk.

Accommodation The Wheatsheaf, 22 High Street, Ingleton, LA6 3AD, 01524 241275, thewheatsheaf-ingleton.co.uk.

Other times of year Winter can produce dramatic shots with snow on the ground and a colourful sky.

Ordnance Survey map OL 2 Nearby locations Twisleton Scar (2 miles); Ribblehead Viaduct (6 miles).

2 miles from Ingleton • 21 miles from Kendal ACCESS RATING 11 miles from Wareham • 24 miles from Bournemouth ACCESS RATING

Butter Rock, Dorset utter Rock is a chalk sea stack on a scenic stretch of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site in Dorset. It is a great focal point for landscape images, especially when captured in partial or full silhouette from its western side, either at sunrise or backlit by the morning sunlight.

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© Andrew Ray

How to get there From Wareham, follow the A352 for five miles to Wool,

54 Outdoor Photograph July 2018

then take the B3071 for approximately four and a half miles to West Lulworth.

After passing The Castle Inn take the first turning on the right (West Road) and follow this for 300m to the end. Turn right on to Church Road and continue for one mile until you reach a turning on the left, signed Durdle Door. This road passes through a caravan park to reach a pay and display car park. A footpath

descends steeply from the car park to Durdle Door; Butter Rock is two thirds of a mile west along the shingle beach.

What to shoot Sea stack; chalk cliffs; Bat’s Head from its eastern side.

Best time of day Morning for the sea stack silhouetted against a bright sky, or afternoon for sunlight illuminated images.

Note that it may not be possible to reach the stack if the tide is high or incoming.

Food/drink The Castle Inn, 8 Main Road, West Lulworth, BH20 5RN, 01929 400311, castleinn-lulworth.co.uk.

Accommodation As above.

Other times of year Sunrise during the spring or autumn months.

Ordnance Survey map LR 194 Nearby locations Durdle Door (⅔ mile); Lulworth Cove (3 miles).

un More is a small wooded hill, heavily laden with the scent of pine, just north of the village of Comrie. It is most noticeable for its obelisk dedicated to Lord Melville.

The path up the hill is steep to start with, but you are rewarded with open views at the top. Follow the path to a vehicle track and you can extend this into a pleasant short outing to Glen Lednock.

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How to get there From Stirling, head north on the A9 for just over 10 miles, turning off at Greenloaning on to the A822. Continue for approximately 10½ miles, passing through Muthill and into Crieff, where the A822 meets the A85.

Turn left on to the A85 and follow the road for six and a half miles to Comrie.

Drive through the centre of the village and the road will make a sharp right turn.

After another 300m the road makes a sharp left turn; instead of turning the corner take the narrow road straight ahead (Monument Road). Follow the narrow lane for roughly one and a quarter miles until you reach a small parking area in the trees on the right. On the opposite side of the road is a path leading to Lord Melville’s Monument and Dun More.

What to shoot Woodland, woodland abstracts and views of Glen Lednock, Comrie and the surrounding countryside; bright yellow Broom Hill in the spring and early summer.

Best time of day Either end of the day is good, but early morning offers the chance of mist low down.

Food/drink Hansen’s Kitchen, Drummond Street, Comrie, PH6 2DW, 01764 670253, facebook.com/hansenskitchen.

Accommodation The Comrie Hotel, Drummond Street, Comrie, PH6 2DY, 01764 670239, comriehotel.co.uk.

Other times of year Good in the spring and great in the autumn.

Ordnance Survey map OL 47 Nearby locations Loch Earn (5 miles); Sma’ Glen (12 miles).

© Carlton Doudney

Dun More, Perth and Kinross

1 mile from Comrie • 25 miles from Stirling ACCESS RATING 1 mile from Onich • 10 miles from Fort William ACCESS RATING

Cuil Cheanna, Highland

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How to get there Take the A82 southwest from Fort William for just over 10 miles, until you reach the village of Onich. There’s limited parking in the village, but the village hall car park is one option. If you park there, walk just over one mile back along the A82, passing through Onich and continuing to the north side of the village and a turning on your left for Cuilceanna House.

Proceed down this road and take the right fork; there is a stile to the right that connects to a track leading up to Cuil Cheanna.

What to shoot Perfect for panoramas of Loch Linnhe and the Ardgour mountains, with the changeable weather conditions capable of providing dramatic lighting.

Best time of day Early morning is good for light on the mountains, but dramatic contre-jour shots are possible if you look west in the evening.

Food/drink The Four Seasons Bistro and Bar, Inchcree, Onich, PH33 6SD, 01855 821393, inchree.co.uk.

Accommodation Various self-catering chalets and rooms, 01855 821287, inchree.co.uk.

Other times of year Winter can offer dramatic stormy light and a covering of snow on the mountains.

Ordnance Survey map LR 41 Nearby locations Inchree waterfall (2 miles); Kinlochleven (11 miles). © Mark Ferguson

his modest hilltop near Onich offers panoramic views northwards up the Great Glen towards Fort William and southwards down Loch Linnhe towards the Island of Mull.

It also overlooks the Corran Narrows where the small CalMac ferry ploughs back and forth all day.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 55

Ardnamurchan Point, Highland rdnamurchan Point is the most westerly point in the UK mainland. Although it offers unparalleled opportunities for dramatic Inner Hebridean sunsets, this image was taken at first light in mid-July, looking north-east towards Sanna Point.

How to get there Take the A82 southwest from Fort William for roughly nine miles to the Corran-Ardgour ferry that will take you across the Corran Narrows to join the A861. Turn left on to the A861, heading south and then west for 24 miles until you reach Salen. Make a left turn on to the B8007, signed Kilchoan; from here it’s a 23-mile white-knuckle ride (be prepared to drive in low gears!) that passes through Glenborrodale

© James Poots

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and Kilchoan until you reach Achosnich.

Turn left , signed lighthouse, to reach Ardnamurchan Point, where you will find a visitor centre and parking.

What to shoot The white sands of Sanna Bay; seascapes; wildlife; Ardnamurchan lighthouse.

Best time of day Given the westerly location, sunset is best, although sunrise can be spectacular as well.

Food/drink The Stables Café, Ardnamurchan Point, Kilchoan, Acharacle, PH36 4LN,

01972 510210, ardnamurchanlighthouse. com/stables.

Accommodation Keeper’s Cottage, Ardnamurchan Point, Kilchoan, Acharacle, PH36 4LN, 01972 510262, steadingholidaycottages.co.uk/ keepers-west .

Other times of year Ardnamurchan Point is a year-round location Ordnance Survey map Explorer 390 Nearby locations Tobermory (30 minutes by ferry from Kilchoan); Sanna Bay (9 miles).

6 miles from Kilchoan • 59 miles from Fort William ACCESS RATING 0 miles from Blackpool • 50 miles from Manchester ACCESS RATING

Blackpool promenade, Lancashire

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How to get there The mirror ball is located directly opposite the Solaris Centre, which can be found by the A584 (New South Promenade) just over two miles south of Blackpool Tower. It is also half a mile south of Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the South Beach car park.

What to shoot In addition to the mirror ball, this stretch of coastline has a number of piers that provide excellent photo

56 Outdoor Photography July 2018

opportunities, as well as the iconic tower.

Best time of day Being on the west coast, the shoreline is perfect for sunrise, which will reflect beautifully in the mirror ball. The mirror ball also reflects the lights from the promenade attractions at night.

Food/drink Number One South Beach, 4 Harrowside West, Blackpool, FY4 1NW, 01253 343900, numberonesouthbeach.com.

Accommodation There are countless hotels and B&Bs along the promenade, making it very easy to find accommodation.

Other times of year September– November, during the Blackpool Illuminations light festival.

Ordnance Survey map Explorer 286 Nearby locations Blackpool Tower (2½ miles); Mary’s Shell, Cleveleys beach (7 miles). © John Haswell

onsisting of 46,000 mirrors, the giant mirror ball on Blackpool’s South Shore promenade is an iconic structure that weighs in at around four and a half metric tons and performs one full rotation every minute. As it is right next to the beach the location offers a variety of coastal and urban compositions.

Bantham, Devon he beach at Bantham is a wide stretch of golden sand, with Burgh Island providing an impressive background. There is a plethora of subjects to shoot, but it also has a secret: at low tide you can find an extraordinary, hidden rocky reef in front of the cliffs to the left of the bay, although you will have to navigate some tricky rocks (making access much harder).

How to get there Follow the A379 north-west from Kingsbridge, towards Churchstow. After Churchstow you will reach a large roundabout with the A381.

Continue straight over the roundabout towards Bantham. Drive through the village until you reach the car park, which is located behind the beach. Note that the car park is often locked around sunset, but there is usually space by

© Matt Whorlow

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the roadside before the car park’s gate if you are looking to stay into the evening.

What to shoot Sweeping beach vistas and dramatic rock formations.

Best time of day The beach faces west, so the best light is late evening and sunset.

Food/drink The Sloop Inn, Bantham,

TQ7 3AJ, 01548 560489, thesloop.co.uk.

Accommodation As above.

Other times of year Good evening light all year round.

Ordnance Survey map OL 20 Nearby locations South Milton Sands (5½ miles); Burgh Island (9½ miles).

6 miles from Kingsbridge • 21 miles from Plymouth ACCESS RATING 1½ miles from Village Bay • 44 miles from Leverburgh (by boat) ACCESS RATING

Ruabhal, St Kilda f you want to experience true isolation, a visit to the archipelago of St Kilda – the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides – will certainly fit the bill.

Staying overnight on St Kilda’s largest island, Hirta, means you can escape the crowds of visitors to the island and experience the light of the golden hours at sunset and sunrise as it falls across the abandoned village and craggy landscape.

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public toilets and a shower block, which are the island’s only non-military facilities. A map of the island is essential and the path from the campsite to Ruabhal is steep with significant drops, so care is definitely needed.

What to shoot The abandoned village and dramatic rocky headlands.

Best time of day Early morning and late afternoon. In clear conditions the island is perfect for astrophotography.

Food/drink There are no shops on the island, so take your own food and drink.

Accommodation Campsite at Village Bay (maximum six people), 01463 732645, nts.org.uk.

Other times of year The island is only accessible from May–September.

Ordnance Survey map Explorer 460 Nearby locations Conachair (1 mile from campsite); The Mistress Stone (1½ miles from campsite). © Richard Burdon

How to get there To get to Hirta, a boat from Leverburgh on Harris is the quickest option, but to stay on the island you will need to get permission to camp from the Scottish National Trust. In either case, boats to Hirta land at Village Bay, where you will find a very small campsite,

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 57

A lack of organisation Almost alone among larger European countries, the UK has no national body dedicated to nature photographers. Niall Benvie explains why he thinks this matters

In February this year, my wife Charlotte and I spent a great weekend in Stapelfeld, northern Germany, where I was speaking at the annual Inspiration Natur photo festival, along with Markus Varesvuo, Wenche Dahle and several Dutch and German photographers, including the organiser Willi Rolfes. These events give us a rare opportunity to get together with other members of our ‘community’ – one that is scattered far and wide across the world – for an intense spell of inspiration, conviviality and exchange.

By the end of the weekend, all 200 places for next year’s conference had been booked, even before the programme has been published. This is the pattern each year with this event, even though it is not the only one of its

58 Outdoor Photography July 2018

kind in Germany. Indeed, compared to Glanzlichter and the German Nature Photographer’s Association (GDT) conference, which attracts over 1,000 people, this is a small one.

Clearly German photographers enjoy each other’s company, taking part in workshops and seeing presentations by some of the most accomplished creatives in the business.

Contrast that to the situation in the UK where, with the exception of the On Landscape get-together in the Lake District (which is aimed at the landscape community rather than wildlife photographers) there are no similar national events with international speakers. Wild Photos, which followed the Wildlife Photographer of the Year

exhibition opening in London for several years, has ceased, and the longrunning Scottish Nature Photography Fair (latterly, Festival) that I started in 1991, and which was subsequently run by Scottish Natural Heritage, then Northshots, could no longer make the sums add up and has folded. This means that the sort of experience that I and many others enjoyed over the years – of mixing with other domestic and foreign nature photographers and feeling part of a larger community – is denied to the up-and-coming generation in Britain.

And that is something that no amount of social media groups can substitute for.

What is bewildering is that most of these European conferences are staged by national associations of

Below Riisitunturi, Finland.

Conferences, especially overseas ones, are great places to meet like-minded photographers and make new contacts.

OPINION

nature photographers, but in the UK we don’t have anything similar, despite being a country where three people, on discovering a shared interest, are inclined to form a society, write a constitution and elect office bearers.

There is certainly no shortage of people calling themselves nature photographers in the UK who could be potential members – and beneficiaries – of such an association.

In the early 2000s, Chris Weston tried to get a national society up and running, but as always happens when most of the work falls to one person, the organisation was stillborn. Other groups, such as the RPS, have sections devoted to natural history photography, but there is nothing with the stature of AEFONA in Spain, GDT in Germany, Naturfotograferna in Sweden or NANPA in the US. I think we need a comparable body to foster interest, share values, cultivate expertise and provide support: these organisations are about a lot more

than the annual competitions they run.

Sadly, there seems to be a growing trend (in this country in particular), for nature photography to be reduced to a competitive sport, where competition success is seen as the primary measure of value. In a creative, non-binary arena such as photography, I think this is plain nonsense and it does nothing to encourage new ideas and approaches.

You need only look at the restrictive rules of most of the large competitions to appreciate this. Heaven help you if you want to redefine ‘the photograph’: there will be no multiple images; no colour grading; no typography; and no borders – all techniques that can enhance meaning and hold the viewer’s attention.

An association of people with a shared interest, but diverse perspectives, is undoubtedly the place to work out these ideas, not a competition. I can’t be sure, but I do wonder if one of the reasons we see relatively few acclaimed

female wildlife photographers is because many see straight through the daftness of endless competitions, don’t take part and are therefore denied exposure of their work. By any other measure, the best are easily the equal of the celebrated men in this business.

Here, then, is the challenge for a young entrepreneur with energy, time and few financial commitments: create an association for British nature photographers. I can say from experience that starting an event (or even an organisation) is a great way to get yourself known within the business, to make a niche for yourself and connect with your community. Incredible tools now exist that hadn’t been conceived when I ran my first Scottish Nature Photography Fair in 1991, and these are tools that make the job of promoting and administering an event hugely easier. So write your business plan, find your backers and then tell us all about it – I, for one, am all ears.

Above Despite Britain’s large community of outdoor photographers, we lack a national body to foster interest and appreciation, share values and provide support.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 59

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Results of our ‘plants and flowers’ competition Meet wildlife photographer Shannon Wild Tested and rated: Canon EOS M50

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How to take awesome adventure photographs

INSIDE TRACK

Giving it your best shot While it’s tempting to think that we are the best judges of our own work, sometimes even the most experienced photographer needs a helping hand whittling down a portfolio for publication. Not least because there could be something of real worth in the archive that you would simply never see for yourself. By Nick Smith…

There are many reasons to enjoy being a magazine editor, but the aspect I enjoyed most of sitting in the big chair at Geographical was when a photographer came to see me to pitch a new photo set. In fact, it was such a pleasant part of the job that I’d try to orchestrate my diary in such a way that the prospecting photographer took up my last appointment of the day. The idea being that if the meeting looked like over-running there would be no pressure to ‘wrap up’ or make hasty decisions. As I got to know my core group of regular photographers these sessions routinely spilled over into Soho’s Dog & Duck.

Chief among my regulars was a brilliant and fearless snapper who I will call Bob. The pseudonym is required because I’m going to say something mildly critical of him and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. As I say, Bob was a genius with the camera and all that went with it, often embracing what others would consider to be unacceptable risk in pursuit of his craft. He would inveigle his way behind the frontlines of conflict, into zones of natural disaster and right into the heart of humanitarian crises.

He once told me that he’d fallen out of a helicopter in Iraq. But he’d been lucky, because despite breaking several bones, his cameras survived unscarred. So you get the picture. I had, and still have, deep respect for Bob. All this, and yet whenever I got a call to meet him at the Dog & Duck to ‘have a quick look’ at his latest haul, my heart would sink a millimetre or two towards the floor.

This was because Bob would always bring thousands – and I mean thousands – of transparencies to our meetings in several enormous lever arch folders. Although I took it in good humour, after a few such confabs I decided to gently investigate whether Bob would be prepared to trim down the vastness of his presentations and perhaps leave me with two or three edited sets of more manageable proportions for my consideration. Things came to a head one hot sunny afternoon as up he bounded, like an exuberant dog, overburdened by fi les and wearing a bulletproof vest. ‘What on earth are you wearing that for?’

I asked not unreasonably. ‘Oh that,’ quoth he. ‘Well, it was a bit cumbersome to carry, what with all these photos and all.’ Delving deeper I discovered that he was using his trip to town not just to see me, but also to procure body armour for a forthcoming assignment in either the Western Sahara or Sudan; I forget which.

Bob couldn’t edit picture sets to save his life, and yet such was my liking for his work that I’d gladly undertake the task myself while paying for the beer too. His affl iction stemmed neither from any lack of understanding of his work or what magazine editors might want, but from fear of leaving out a crucial image. ‘Let’s get rid of these,’ I’d politely suggest. To which the inevitable response would be, ‘but what if we need them?’ To which I’d say: ‘Bob, the magazine is only 124 pages, and here are 4,000 transparencies.’ And so I’d whittle down the mass of imagery to a generous handful of barnstormers with the promise that if I needed any more I’d be in touch.

It sounds as though I have no sympathy for my friend.

But I do, and in fact never more so than a few weeks ago when preparing a set for a pictorial in a travel magazine. Working on the basis that you should never fi le anything with a picture editor that you won’t be happy to see in print, I hacked away and in my first pass at least got the set down from a four-figure total to two figures. Encouraged, I fl icked back and forth through the collection, weeding and pruning until I got it nicely down to a total of 36 (a number I hold in superstition, probably because it reminds me of my early days of shooting on 35mm fi lm).

Three dozen photos might sound a lot, but I was preparing imagery for several double-page spreads.

As I checked over the keywords, captions and fi le names I started to imagine how the page layouts might eventually look. I was just about to hit the button to dispatch them into the ether when I realised an image had jumped ship, reducing me to an unlucky 35. This couldn’t be tolerated and so, despite being on a tight deadline, I retraced my steps through the workflow history. Not being able to find the mutineer, I grabbed something innocuous from the master archive that looked passable, scrubbed it up a bit in my post-pro software, added it to the set, pressed the send button and thought no more of it.

Why would I think any more of it? The magazine would never use such a photo in a million years. Or so I thought, that is until I saw my article in print. And there it was, resplendent in all its glory as the opening shot of the lead feature. Which just goes to show that perhaps we aren’t always the best judge of our own work, and that Bob might have had a point after all.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 61

YOUR CHANCE TO TAKE PART See your work in print + win great prizes!

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WHERE IN THE WORLD?

SOCIAL HUB Please send your views, opinions and musings to anna.evans@ thegmcgroup.com, or send them online or by post. If your letter is our ‘Letter of the Month’ you’ll win a prize; this month’s winner received a Samsung EVO Plus 64GB Micro SD card with SD adaptor.

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July 2018 Outdoor Photography 63

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READER GALLERY Each month we publish the best images from those submitted for our Reader Gallery. Turn to page 62 to find out how to enter your work using our online system. Here is this month’s winner…

Winner Matthew Light Like many other people, working in an office-based job means I spend the vast majority of my time indoors, sat behind a desk.

This means that in my spare time I have a thirst to reconnect with the outdoors. Landscape photography provides me with the perfect outlet to discover and explore new surroundings. Since relocating 18 months ago from the south of England to the north-west I am now lucky that I have several of the UK’s most stunning

national parks less than a 90-minute drive away.

As a result, my passion for creating images of the landscapes that surround me has flourished, although my personal style is still very much a work in progress. I do, however, fi nd myself seduced by the peacefulness of sunrise and sunset, which is often reflected in the images I make.

I would like to continue to create images that showcase the beauty of the environments I visit and allow myself to enjoy the outdoors in the process. I would definitely like to travel further afield with my camera and the Scottish

Highlands and Islands – along with the Italian Dolomites – are high on my list of locations to visit in the near future. I’d also love for my images to be enjoyed by people who may share my weekday ‘disconnection’ from the outdoors; so to one day be able to publish a collection of portfolio-quality images in a book would be a very satisfying achievement.

Hometown Northwich, Cheshire Occupation E-commerce manager Photographic experience Two years matthewlight.com

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 65

Previous page Newlands Corner, Surrey This image was made just after sunrise on a perfectly still, crisp autumn morning, when the sun had just started to burn off the low-lying mist that had settled in the various valleys of the Surrey Hills. The symmetry of the trees in the foreground is what first drew me to this composition, but it was the sense of calm that I really wanted to capture – a moment of serenity just 30 miles from the hustle and bustle of London.

Canon EOS 70D with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens at 50mm, ISO 100, 1/60sec at f/11 Right Rushup sunset, Peak District I took this at the end of a late-summer’s day, but do not let the warm tones fool you – a chilling wind was blowing through Edale Valley, which made me grateful for the emergency outer layer I had buried deep in my camera bag. Situated close to the summit of Mam Tor, I decided to avoid the popular composition that includes the iconic winding road and instead made Rushup Edge the sole subject, as it was bathed in such fine light from the setting sun.

Canon EOS 6D with Canon 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 40mm, ISO 100, 1/13sec at f/16

Send in your best images and win great prizes. This month’s winner receives either a Sprayway Rador or Selen jacket, worth £100!

The Sprayway Rador men’s jacket and Selen women’s jacket are versatile, micro-baffle, synthetic jackets that are perfect for shooting on cold days. The loose-blown fill gives the soft feel of down with the water resistant and quick drying benefits of synthetic insulation. There are two hand elastane-bound pockets on the outside and an inner, zipped security pocket, offering storage and extra protection against the elements. Both jackets come with an adjustable drawcord hem and a stuff sack.

To find out more go to sprayway.com

66 Outdoor Photograph July 2018

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 67

WILD PHOTOGRAPHY HOLIDAYS

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PHOTO SHOWCASE

Sony World Photography Awards 2018 Now in its 12th year the World Photography Organisation’s annual competition is one of the most popular and diverse and aims to celebrate contemporary photography from around the planet. From hundreds of thousands of entries, these are some of our favourites from the awarded images

© Lennart Hessel, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Lennart Hessel 1st Place, National Awards – Sweden This painted dog in Africa was defending its kill by chasing away vultures keen to join in the feast.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 69

Š Chin Bong Leng, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Chin Bong Leng 1st Place, National Awards – Singapore This photo was taken on the Khara Jun grasslands in the Xinjiang autonomous territory in northwest, China. I was waiting on the mountain slopes for the sunset, when the shadows would be at their best. As the horses galloped into the frame, I used continuous shooting mode to ensure I captured a satisfactory moment in the action.

70 Outdoor Photography July 2018

PHOTO SHOWCASE

© Paranyu Pithayarungsarit, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Paranyu Pithayarungsarit 1st Place, National Awards – Thailand This image of a large dune in the Namib desert, Namibia, was shot in the morning as the sun shone on one side of the dune and the other side was still in shadow. The Namib desert is the oldest desert in the world – the sand sediments were deposited around 55-80 million years ago.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 71

Š Kyaw Win Hlaing, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Kyaw Win Hlaing 2nd Place, National Awards – Myanmar This picture was taken at Mount Bromo, which is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif in East Java, Indonesia. The word Bromo derives from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

72 Outdoor Photography July 2018

PHOTO SHOWCASE

© Ingrid Vekemans, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Ingrid Vekemans 1st Place, National Awards – Belgium Observing chimpanzees in Kibale Forest in Uganda was a challenge. They were high up in the trees or moving fast across the forest floor. As we followed them it was a matter of shooting quickly when they sat down for a moment. This chimpanzee struck a very human-like pose, showing just how closely related we are. The forest made for a cluttered background, so using a large aperture and shooting through the foliage helped to minimise this.

To see the rest of the winning images and to find out more about the competition, travelling exhibitions, prints and book of the 2018 awards, go to worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 73

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NATURE ZONE DISCOVER 76 Laurie Campbell: Life in the wild

78 Nature photo guide

81 A moment with nature

82 Steve Young: On the wing

SUMMER GARDEN REGULAR Steve Young suggests training your lens on this common visitor

LIFE IN THE WILD

Familiarity breeds connection Becoming so intimate with a place that you can imagine living there will truly enable you to appreciate its ora and fauna. So says Laurie Campbell, who has embraced this approach throughout his career It is often said that all young children have a natural sense of curiosity and that when left on their own they are likely to become fascinated by the natural world. Unfortunately, due partly to the increasing number of distractions from the modern digital world in which we now live, fewer and fewer children are having the opportunity to engage properly with nature.

However, miss those early years and it can be difficult to make that connection later on.

As a child in the 1960s I was lucky enough to grow up in an area surrounded by a diverse range of habitats. Our home was within a few yards of the river Tweed and from a very early age, everything from house spiders to the grey seals and mute swans in the estuary

76 Outdoor Photography July 2018

made a big impression on me. Sundays were usually ring-fenced for family afternoon drives into the countryside, not just for sightseeing and walking, but combined with some other activity, such as ďŹ shing or gathering mushrooms or conkers.

When I began photographing nature in my early teens, I would always take my camera on these outings, but I quickly realised that a more considered approach was needed if I were to stand a chance of getting close to animals. So I began working within walking distance from home. I kept diaries of what I would see on my local patch and as I was already adept at building dens, constructing hides came naturally.

Over time I became familiar with the range of

species that were representative of the area and I started going after certain pictures and building sequences of them. I even dabbled with Super 8 movie making for a while, driven by the desire to return home with images of my experiences that I could share with friends and family (thinking of making a career out of it came later). I felt comfortable knowing where everything was, but summer camping holidays around the Scottish Highlands provided a glimpse of a whole new range of habitats and subjects to be explored.

In later years, while working as an ophthalmic photographer in Edinburgh, I purchased my ďŹ rst car, a 21-year-old Morris Minor, and a small tent from Woolworths. All my spare time was devoted to travelling north. I started with the

Opposite I already knew what – to my eye – was the best camera position for this view over Loch Mudle to the islands of Rum and Eigg, so when a sea fog rolled inland at sunset I was able to catch the moment before I was engulfed in cloud.

Nikon F4S with Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-S lens, Fujichrome Velvia ISO 50, 1/250sec at f/8, tripod, cable release, mirror-lock Above This low, contorted sessile oak is typical of the shape that these trees take on when growing on the edge of windswept woods. Fortunately, I was able to find convenient branches for my tripod’s feet while setting up the camera in the crown of the tree.

Nikon D3X with Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens at 14mm, ISO 200, 1/50sec at f/20, tripod, cable release

Ardnamurchan peninsular, where as a small boy in the 1960s I had seen my first otter, on Loch Sunart. I quickly connected with the place, and one May bank holiday weekend not only did I see otters and common seals there, but also golden eagles and a pine marten. I was hooked.

I always camped in the same bay, constructing a stone wall against the prevailing westerly weather systems. I built a fireplace in which I burnt driftwood and used slabs of rock to fashion a ‘fridge’ in a nearby burn. It all still stands to this day, albeit smothered in brambles.

Gradually, from visiting throughout the seasons for several years, I learnt without having to stray

very far how the plants and animals related to the landscape. Indeed, it often felt like home and I got a real sense of what it would be like to live there full-time.

I’ve adopted this approach throughout my career, and bit by bit I have accumulated a bank of knowledge of different locations and a neverending list of images that I would like to achieve.

Nature tips Whatever the genre of photography, all photographers have their favourite locations and an idea of the kind of images they wish to capture. Even if these locations are not directly related to the natural world, they are obviously still influenced by it, due to the changing lighting, weather and seasons.

Photographing animals requires us to work that bit harder to gain a deeper understanding of them and to recognise how all kinds of things can change their behaviour. This, in turn, will affect where they might be and how they may react if we try to get close.

The ideal should be to understand our subjects sufficiently that we do not affect their behaviour, because this obviously gives us the best photographs of them behaving naturally and not always looking directly at the camera, for example. Sometimes dubbed ‘getting in tune with nature’, it is also about looking at subjects in context with their environment; why they have evolved to be there and the

relationship between them and everything else living in the same place. Spending lots of time in one location is the best way of understanding just how interconnected nature is and that can sp awn ideas for sequences of images that tell a story.

The area you need to work with does not need to be very big. In my time at Ardnamurchan, I got to know a sessile oak wood. By spending lots of time in it I learnt about all the plants and animals that were typical of that habitat and at what time of year and day I could expect to see and photograph them. The wood happened to be close to my campsite, but I drove past mile after mile of near-identical woodland habitat to reach my site. It was always tempting to stop and explore them all, but I never did.

Instead, I reconciled myself with that fact that I wasn’t necessarily going to find much else to photograph compared to the patch of woodland I knew best .

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 77

WHAT TO SHOOT THIS MONTH…

Laurie’s July highlights

Most people have seen close-up footage of dung beetles laboriously rolling balls of dung across the African plains. What fewer people realise is that we have a relative of these invertebrates living with us in the UK, in the shape of the Dor beetle (Geotrupes stercorarius). They are fairly common on farmland with stock and woodland, but the most likely place you will seem them is on footpaths and tracks, where this round, 25mm long beetle is unmistakable.

Nikon D300 with Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S macro lens, ISO 250, 1/40sec at f/16

When we have left a window or door open on a hot summer’s day, it is always very sad to later find a dead butterfly that accidentally found its way into our home and couldn’t get out. Nonetheless, this provides an opportunity to practise ‘super macro’ (greater than life-size) photography of the marvellous scale patterns on their wings. One important tip, though: use a focusing rail and keep the back of the camera absolutely flush with the plane of the wing. The species photographed here is a speckled wood butterfly (Parage aegeria).

Nikon D3X with reverse-mounted Nikon 28mm f/2 manual focus lens, ISO 100, 1/100sec at f/16, tripod, cable release, mirror-lock, Novoflex focus rail, Nikon speedlight with homemade softbox

78 Outdoor Photography July 2018

After the flurry of new life in spring and early summer, the calves of red deer (Cervus elaphus) that were born in May and June are now highly mobile and starting to lose their attractive spotted coat markings.

It is tempting to long for autumn now, and the start of the rutting season, but if you can bear the Scottish biting midges or the flies when working with parkland deer, think about photographing them in their striking red coats and velvet-covered antlers.

Nikon D3S with Nikon 500mm f/4 VR lens, ISO 500, 1/200sec at f/4, tripod, cable release

Part of the process of understanding habitats is to look for field signs that animals leave behind. With more and more colonies of European beavers (Castor fibre) becoming established in the UK, these animals certainly leave no shortage of clues as to their presence. This photograph shows the curling effect of the bark on the trunk of a silver birch tree that has been gnawed and felled by a beaver and is drying out.

Nikon D3 with Nikon 60mm f/2.8 AF-S macro lens, ISO 200, 1/5sec at f/29, tripod, cable release, mirror-lock

More seasonal subjects

Top sites for rock pools

Flora

It’s the time of year when jaunts to the coast become a pleasant possibility, whether it’s purely for photography or simply a summer’s day out with family and friends. No matter what the motivation is, this is the perfect opportunity to explore rock pools – and the marine life trapped within them – with your camera. Just don’t forget a polarising filter, though: it’s essential for cutting through the surface glare.

Goldenrod (Solidago virgaurea) – a tall perennial growing to more than one metre in height, topped with composite yellow flowers.

Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) – apart from taking photographs of the ripening fruit, think of the insects that are attracted to it as well.

Great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) – the second part of the Latin name for this tall plant gives a clue that its stems are ‘hairy’.

Fauna Basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) – to photograph the world’s second largest fish topside you will need a raised viewpoint, flat-calm sea and a polarising filter.

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) – if you happen to see a garden pond with damp, mosscovered rocks at the edge, look for these insects drinking.

Swift (Apus apus) – a very challenging bird to photograph in flight. Start by photographing groups in the air and against a sunset. © FloridaStock / Shutterstock.com

World wildlife spectacles

Caswell Bay, Swansea The large sandy beach at Caswell Bay, six miles south-west of Swansea on the Gower Peninsula, makes it a popular destination when the temperature rises.

At low tide the eastern end of the beach contains plenty of rock pools to explore: crabs, starfish and anemones abound, but for something slightly more unusual keep an eye out for grey sea slugs. visitswanseabay.com/listings/caswell-bay-beach

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Hope Gap, East Sussex The chalky Seven Sisters cliffs are found towards the eastern end of the South Downs, as they gently roll into Eastbourne in East Sussex. When the tide is in, the shoreline beneath the cliffs is either underwater or limited to a tiny sliver of land, but when the water recedes, rock pools appear in the chalky landscape.

Hope Gap, two miles east of the town of Seaford, offers stepped access to the beach. sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/visit/seaford-head

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Wolverines, Finland Growing to about three-feet long and with a solid, powerful body, wolverines can easily be mistaken for small members of the bear family, but are in fact the largest of the mustelids, which includes otters and weasels. The wolverine’s arctic and sub-arctic range includes the northern United States, Canada, Russia and Fennoscandia, the latter of which contains Finland. Although there is only an estimated population of 150–200 wolverines in Finland, this Nordic country is a particularly great destination for wolverine watching, thanks to a number of dedicated safaris. Many of these tours use photography hides to ensure you can get close to these distinctive carnivores and come away with some spectacular shots.

Nodes Point and Bembridge Ledge, Isle of Wight Located either side of the entrance to Bembridge harbour at the eastern end of the Isle of Wight, the rock pools at Nodes Point and Bembridge Ledge both provide opportunities to spot crabs, brittle stars, sea anemones, blennies and gobies. However, it is the chance of finding a seahorse that is arguably the biggest draw; just remember to look and not touch. nationaltrust.org.uk/st-helens-duver

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© Ondrej Prosicky / Shutterstock.com

Bald eagles, Alaska The bald eagle was almost driven to extinction in the United States through the extensive post-war use of DDT as a pesticide, but after DDT was banned in 1972 the population has recovered and the feathered emblem of the US is now thought to number as many as 10,000 pairs. Although they can be found throughout the United States (and into Canada and Mexico), Alaska is this sea eagle’s primary stronghold, with up to half the global population found here.

Thanks to an abundance of salmon, the Chilkat River (and Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve) to the north-west of Juneau is a great place to see eagles at this time of year, with a resident population of up to 400 birds.

Cresswell Foreshore, Northumberland Located just over 20 miles north of Newcastleupon-Tyne, the rock pools at Cresswell Foreshore play host to a variety of seaweeds. While you might find butterfish and shanny hiding within the fronds, the site is best known for its five species of crab. However, one of these – the porcelain crab – is not actually a ‘true’ crab, but a relative of the squat lobster. nwt.org.uk/reserves/cresswell-foreshore

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Wembury Bay, Devon You’ll find Wembury Bay seven miles south-east of Plymouth on the south Devon coast. At low tide a plethora of pools is created, and as well as the typical rock pool fare of crabs and starfish you might also encounter sea scorpions, pipe fish and Cornish sucker fish. Explore the pools on your own or join one of the ‘rock pool safaris’ run by Devon Wildlife Trust and Wembury Marine Centre. nationaltrust.org.uk/wembury

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July 2018 Outdoor Photography 79

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A MOMENT WITH NATURE

Ephemeral details We’ve probably all purposefully allowed at least one great photo opportunity to slip through our fingers because we’re on the way to do something else, but Joanna Clegg believes that you have got to do all you can to capture those moments when you can It had been another long, wet, stormy winter in Cornwall. Every winter seems wetter than the last: the farm was increasingly muddy, grass was struggling to grow and we were running low on feed for the cattle. But spring was nearly here and the fi rst calves were being born, even though there were reports that another ‘Beast from the East’ was on its way.

There was a thick frost on the car’s windscreen and the roads were icy when I woke up early one morning to take my daughter to the station to catch her train to college. On my return journey I spotted some frozen puddles, which is a rare occurrence here in the far south-west of Cornwall. The conditions were perfect: blue skies, sunshine and no wind. Even though there were plenty of jobs waiting for me back at the farm I just had to grab my camera and get out there.

The average person would just walk past

a frozen puddle and think nothing of it, but they have always held a fascination for me.

The patterns in and on the ice are so varied, with the frozen bubbles and cracks creating a natural abstract artwork. I have made it my mission to capture their beauty and show off these patterns in all their glory, by focusing on their intricacies and details. Sometimes I’m drawn to the colours, to the brown muddiness or the blueness of the ice, while at other times it’s the patterns that pull me in – the lines, curves, dots and bubbles that are revealed and concealed depending on the angle at which you view them. These patterns can be all the more striking in black & white.

Regardless of whether I’m looking at a close-up macro shot or a more encompassing aerial view, composition is my priority. I find tripods cumbersome and particularly fiddly in freezing conditions, so I shoot handheld,

often holding my breath in order to maintain the correct focus distance.

Sometimes I’ll kneel down on the hard, frozen ground and get up close to my subject, revealing hidden mosaics within frozen bubbles. It goes without saying that I get the strangest looks from passers-by as I hover over these icy puddles, in my own world and totally focused as I try to get the ‘right’ angle.

My time on this particular occasion was limited, not only by the work that was still urgently waiting for me back on the farm, but by the fact that icy conditions rarely last long in this coastal area of Cornwall. The sun was shining and the ice was melting, so time was of the essence, but even as the ice melted it revealed new and interesting patterns and colours. When I felt I had investigated all of the puddles in the area, I decided to call it a day. One hour later the ice was gone.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 81

NATURE ZONE STEVE YOUNG

On the wing When a young cuckoo was spotted at a local nature reserve, Steve Young had high hopes of getting some shots, but he left with a better haul than he had anticipated

I have never really had that much luck photographing adult cuckoos. I’ve always found them very tricky to get close to for a nice-sized image and the only real success I’ve had came when I used a ‘pay and display’ hide, which was an experience I didn’t enjoy.

A juvenile cuckoo is a different prospect, though, as these can be very tame and have allowed a close approach on the few times that I’ve seen them over the years.

Last summer, one individual was found at Lunt Nature Reserve, just 20 minutes away from my home. I had been told it was showing

incredibly well, perching on wires, fence posts and branches, so my hopes were high when I arrived on site. During the winter, this reserve is extremely popular with photographers for short-eared owls, but once they have moved away for the summer it tends to calm down and is a very pleasant place to visit. Today was sunny and warm, and even though it was mid-summer the reserve still resounded with the sounds of sedge and reed warblers. Small groups of swallows were feeding over my head as I wandered down the track to the cuckoo’s favoured area.

There was a small gathering of photographers and I was informed that the bird had been showing, but had just flown across a field, out of view. Within 20 minutes it flew in again and landed on a fence post, directly into the sun.

The cuckoo is a lot bigger than most nonbirders think and it still takes me a little by surprise; looking like a small bird of prey with its slightly hooked bill, the juvenile bird sat on the post before it dropped down to the ground, found a caterpillar and flew off again.

It had now decided to wander around the reserve and I must admit that I’d had enough of waiting for it to come back to the fence posts I was standing by; I can only be patient for so long these days. So I thought I might as well wander around a bit as well to see if there was anything else to look at. But mid-summer is not the best time of the year for photographing birds (except seabird or tern colonies), and apart from a few butterflies it was quiet; even the warblers weren’t showing that well, so I slowly made my way back to the car.

As I approached the car park there was a shape sat on a post. I lifted my binoculars and sure enough the shape became the cuckoo. Walking slowly through long grass I took better shots than I had before and was just settling down to take more when it flew straight towards me. It came very close, then banked across and away. Luckily, the light was good and I hadn’t tried anything experimental with a small aperture, so my shutter speed was fast. As it flew past I followed it through my lens and kept pressing the shutter. I was delighted to see that at least three frames had all the bird in the frame (the rest had no tail, one wing and so on).

I didn’t bother going back to where it had flown. I had managed a few shots on the post and had my first ‘cuckoo in flight’ shots, so it was time to head home and have a closer look at the images.

Top Just as I’d given up I came across the juvenile cuckoo sat on a fence post by the car park.

Above An early effort that I’m not that keen on, taken straight into the sun. With adjustment to the shadows and highlights it is still far better than it would have been on slide film.

Left The bird flew past at close range – too close really – but at least this shot has both the wings and tail in it!

82 Outdoor Photography July 2018

BIRD OF THE MONTH

LOCATION OF THE MONTH © Olexandr Reznikov / Shutterstock.com

The great tit is a common bird, vocal and very noticeable when it visits gardens. If you have left your feeders out during the summer they will be visiting regularly and bringing their young with them. The great tit is larger than the blue tit and

lacks any blue in its plumage, but with a yellow breast with a thick black line down the middle, white cheeks and black cap they are easy to identify. Males are brighter than females, and juveniles are like a paler version of the adults with a much less obvious breast line. They readily use nest boxes to breed in, so if you have one up in the garden, check it out – the expected blue tits may well be a pair of greats.

Above left A paler yellow breast and black band are features of a female.

Above right The bright yellow breast and thick black centre band show that this is a male bird.

Left An adult bird feeding a young great tit is a common sight in many gardens.

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY TIP

The mid-summer months can be quite poor for bird photography. Most garden species have started to moult or their plumage is worn and patchy during the hectic breeding season, so they don’t look great. Others can be quiet and secretive, so the

best places to visit are seabird or tern colonies where birds are actively feeding their young.

Common tern colonies are dotted round the country, as many reserves put out rafts for them, upon which they readily breed. As the terns fly to and fro with fish for their mates or young, photo opportunities are plentiful, as are chances of shots of the young birds when they nervously leave the raft and try to fly for the first time. Don’t delay, though – the breeding season doesn’t last long and by mid-August most birds will have left and be ready to start their migration once again.

Above left Even when they have left the safety of the colony, the adult bird will still feed the young.

Above right Rafts are perfect for common terns to start a colony, as they feel safe surrounded by the water and there is enough space for many pairs.

Left Occasionally, very young birds will leave the safety of the nest and start to wander; this one is calling so the parents can locate it.

Eccles-on-Sea, Norfolk Eccles-on-Sea lies on the Norfolk coast , roughly midway between Happisburgh and Waxham, and 19 miles northeast of Norwich. Each year, its sandy beach plays host to one of the country’s largest colonies of little terns; in 2017, 146 breeding pairs were counted, making it the second largest colony in the UK. To protect the birds, wardens start to appear on the beach at the end of May and electric fences are erected in preparation for the arrival of the little terns, which start to nest in early June. The first chicks typically appear towards the end of the month, and fledging happens around 20 days later. This makes midJuly the perfect time to see the young birds taking to the air for the first time or adults feeding their chicks herring, sprats and sand eels.

Getting there Take the A1151 out of Norwich, following it for just over 11½ miles, until it becomes the A149. Continue for a further one and a half miles and then take the left turn on to the B1159. At the end of the road turn left , continuing on the B1159 for just over one and a half miles until you reach a crossroads. Turn right and follow the road for one mile to a T-junction, where you will turn left towards Happisburgh and Walcott . After one mile, turn right and follow the road for one more mile to Cart Gap car park, which is behind the beach at Eccles-on-Sea; car parking charges are currently £1.50 an hour, or £7 for up to 24 hours.

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 83

IMAGE TAKEN WITH X-H1 BY CHRIS WESTON | WWW.CHRISWESTON.PHOTOGRAPHY

NEVER MISS THE MOMENT With 5-axis in-body image stabilization and impressive functionality, the FUJIFILM X-H1 is poised and ready for any pro stills or video occasion.

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GEAR ZONE ACQUIRE 86 Camera test

88 Gearing up

MADE FOR THE OUTDOOR LIFE We take a ямБrst look at the MindShift Gear Exposure 15 shoulder bag

GEAR ZONE CAMERA TEST

Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ200 A camera that can do it all, but remains small enough to fit comfortably in a jacket pocket is a very attractive proposition: Fergus Kennedy lifts the lid on Panasonic’s latest contender Guide price £729.99 Contact panasonic.com

Below (left, top) The TZ200 has a wide field of view.

Below (left, bottom) At full zoom, it has great reach for a small camera.

Below (right) The dynamic range was impressive, particularly when shooting in Raw.

On paper at least, the Panasonic TZ200 has very appealing specifications: it is a compact travel superzoom camera with a 1-inch sensor, 20MP resolution and a focal length range of 24-360mm (in 35mm equivalent).

As the successor to the popular TZ100, the TZ200 is equally well thought out and it doesn’t take too long to get used to its controls.

A large LCD screen dominates the rear of the camera, but unlike many compact cameras the TZ200 also has an electronic viewfi nder. It is not the largest or highest resolution EVF, but it gets the job done when it’s needed and will keep a lot of users happy, both in very bright conditions and because it has diopter adjustment for those who normally wear glasses.

Of course, one of the defi ning features of the superzoom genre is an expansive range of focal lengths, and in this area the TZ200 adds some

86 Outdoor Photography July 2018

LIKES Big zoom range in a small package Good image quality from 1-inch CMOS sensor Good image stabilisation Great 4K video USB charging

DISLIKES Fixed LCD screen No dedicated ISO button

extra reach over its predecessor at both the wide and long ends of the zoom (the TZ100 had a 27-270mm equivalent zoom). Fitting that much lens into a relatively slim body is an impressive engineering feat, but a long lens on a small camera is a recipe for camera-shake without good image stabilisation. Fortunately this seems to be well taken care of, as even at relatively low shutter speeds I was able to achieve sharp photos.

At the other end of the scale, the little Panasonic has a very handy 3cm close-focus distance in macro mode.

Although this only applies to the wide end of the zoom range, it is still useful for all those exotic plants and insects you will come across on your travels.

For those who want manual control of their camera, the TZ200 is well laid out. In manual exposure mode you can use the dial on the top plate to adjust the shutter speed, while the lens ring is used to change the aperture (these assignments can be customised, as can the functions of many of the buttons).

One minor gripe is the lack of a clearly marked ISO button on the camera. It’s not a big deal, as you can adjust the ISO though the quick menu and touch-screen, but as someone used to changing ISO on the fly on a DSLR it is an irritation. An articulated or flip-out rear LCD would also have been nice, but clearly compromises have to

be made due to the compact size.

The touch-screen focusing and object tracking works pretty well for a camera in this class, but don’t expect DSLR-level AF performance for fast-moving subjects. However, if you need to capture a decisive moment of fast-moving action, the TZ200 offers

Above (left) The lens performed well at a variety of focal lengths.

Above (right) It’s easy to achieve good depth of field.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Sensor 20MP 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8mm) CMOS sensor Resolution 5472 x 3648 pixels (max.)

Lens 24-360mm (equivalent) f/3.3-6.4 Shutter speed Mechanical shutter 1/2000-60sec; electronic shutter 1-1/16000 ISO 125-12800 (extendable to 80-25600) Viewfinder Electronic LCD 3-inch fixed LCD, 1240k pixels, touch control Flash Pop-up Movie mode Max. UHD 4K up to 30fps Card formats SD/SDHC/SDXC (single slot) Power Li-ion battery DMW-BLG-10E Size 111 x 66 x 45mm Weight 340g (with battery)

‘4K burst mode’, which shoots a burst of 8MP JPEGs at up to 30 frames per second (fps), from which you can select the ‘perfect’ frame; the camera also offers an impressive 10 fps continuous shooting rate at full resolution.

In terms of video, the quality is very good for this class of camera, with 4K resolution and slow-motion options.

If you drop the resolution to 1080p you gain very effective 5-axis image stabilisation (as opposed to the 3-axis system used when shooting 4K).

Still image quality is also very commendable for this type of camera.

It understandably can’t quite compete with larger sensor cameras, but the 1-inch CMOS sensor in the TZ200 is still way ahead of the smaller sensors used in many other compact cameras.

It is testament to the developments in sensor technology that you can achieve very pleasing results up to ISO 3200.

There is some noise at this setting, but it can be dealt with in post-processing if you shoot in Raw format; the JPEG processing can look a bit heavy-handed at higher ISO values, smudging the detail to some extent.

Finally, one great (but quite often overlooked) feature on a camera that’s designed primarily for travelling is USB charging. Being able to charge the camera from a USB charger with

a commonly available cable can not only be a life-saver, but it saves space in your luggage, as a single charger can serve the camera and your phone, tablet and other devices.

VERDICT Panasonic’s TZ200 should be a very popular option for photographers who want a small, but incredibly versatile camera.

It’s a jack-of-all-trades, and does most of them prett y well, offering a lot of features for your money.

It is true that some of its main competitors are better in very low light situations, due to their faster lenses, but they don’t have the same long zoom reach, so it’s a question of choice: you’ll need to decide whether your priority is a fast lens for low light or shallow depth of field work, or the massive zoom range offered by the TZ200.

I’d argue that for many travellers, the zoom range will be of more use.

RATINGS Handling Performance Specification Value

94% 94% 95% 96%

Overall

95%

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 87

Sprayway Piper Made using CoreC 100 jersey faced marl fleece for warmth on those cooler summer days, the Piper’s classic st yle includes a fitted collar, coverstitched seams, two zipped hand pockets and one chest pocket.

Quick drying and available in four different colours, there is also a men’s version, the Saul, available.

Guide price £60 sprayway.com

MindShift Gear’s Exposure 15 With panels made out of high performance sailcloth, all the exterior fabric treated with a durable water-repellent coating and a heavyduty nylon tarpaulin base, this pack is designed for the adventurous outdoor photographer who wants their kit to stay safe no matter what the conditions are like on the trail. An additional removable crossbody stabiliser strap attaches to the shoulder strap so the pack moves with you while you’re active.

Guide price £168.76 snapperstuff.com

GEARING UP Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2x-5x Ultra Macro

Benro GD3WH Geared Head

A compact lightweight macro lens compatible with Sony E mount mirrorless cameras, the Laowa 25mm has eight elements in six groups and an eight-blade aperture. The smaller lens barrel allows sufficient lighting to reach the subject for easier shooting, and it has an extended working distance of 45mm at 2.5x and 40mm at 2x.

Promising fast and precise camera positioning, the Benro GD3WH Geared Head has been manufactured using premium materials – including magnesium alloy in the overall construction. Weighing 870g, the head can support up to 6kg of camera kit. Three built-in bubble levels help ensure the perfect set up.

Guide price £399 laowalens.co.uk

Guide price £200 benroeu.com

88 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Bexar Vagabond Leather Camera Strap

Fujifilm GF 250mm f/4 R LM OIS WR

A handmade and adjustable strap with solid copper rivets to secure each leather piece together, this premium camera strap has o-ring attachments and is available in four colours: dark brown, tan, medium brown and black.

The longest telephoto lens in Fujifilm’s GFX series lineup, the GF 250mm (approximately 198mm in 35mm format equivalent) has a nine-blade aperture and 16 elements in 10 groups – including one super ED lens and two ED lenses for reduced chromatic aberration. Its five-stop image stabilisation and high precision silent autofocus makes it ideal for wildlife photographers, plus it’s sealed against the elements and can operate in temperatures as low as -10°C.

Guide price £125 bexar-goods.echoscomm.com

Guide price £2,899 fujifilm.eu

Grangers Activewear Care Kit A wash-in cleaner designed to remove dirt, sweat and odours from your technical garments, Grangers Activewear Care Kit is effective at low wash temperatures.

It maximises your clothes’ wicking performance and reduces drying time, so you can spend less time doing the laundry and more time outdoors.

Guide price £14 grangers.co.uk

WIN THIS! Turn to page 112

BenQ SW240 Photovue Monitor The latest addition to the SW Photovue range is designed specifically for photographers, with its wide gamut technology taking image quality to the next level. At 24.1 inches, the monitor gives 99% Adobe RGB coverage, 100% Rec.709 and 95% DCI-P3. Combine this with the advanced black & white mode and the Colour Mode HotKey for switching colour mode quickly and easily and you’ve got an impressive piece of technology on your hands.

The Pro Light FastTrack is the first sling bag for photographers to feature an integrated camera strap. The bag’s dual-purpose makes it perfect for travel photographers: the adjustable strap makes accessing the camera quick and easy plus the lockable buckles safeguard kit from getting dropped or stolen. The FastTrack can also store up to two additional lenses and has additional pockets for accessories.

Guide price £399 benq.co.uk

Guide price £109.95 manfrotto.co.uk

Manfrotto Pro Light FastTrack

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 89

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If you only do one thing this month…

Exotic wildlife In our March issue we asked you to submit your best images of exotic wildlife, and you really impressed us with the standard of your entries. Here’s our winner, who receives a Mindshift Gear BackLight 36L Photo Daypack, and 15 runners-up

Above WINNER Claire Waring It is enough to give you a real fright when you come across a thorny devil katydid (Panacanthus cuspidatus) in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest at midnight. However, there was no need to panic, as my guide assured me it was a vegetarian!

Canon EOS 1D MkIII with EF 50mm f/2.5 compact macro lens, ISO 200, 1/125sec at f/16, Canon MR14EX macro ring lite, handheld

102 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Opposite (top) Aneurin Phillips During the winter, Japanese macaques immerse themselves in these hot springs in Nagano prefecture, Japan. I was drawn to the relaxed mood evident in the relationship between the mother and her offspring and the rising steam that softened the scene.

Nikon D810 with 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens at 360mm, ISO 800, 1/400sec at f/5.6, handheld aneurinphillips.com

Opposite (bottom) Nick Dale Three adélie penguins watch as another jumps between two ice floes at Brown Bluff, Antarctica.

Nikon D810 with 80-400mm lens at 400mm, ISO 72, 1/1000sec at f/5.6 nickdalephotography.com

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 103

Above Tammy Marlar I shot this beautifully organised row of ankole-watusi cattle at Cabárceno Natural Park, near Santander in northern Spain.

Originally native to Africa, these regal animals’ ancestry can be traced back more than 6,000 years and they are considered the show-stoppers of the bovine kingdom. These four had congregated in almost perfect alignment at the front of their shelter, but a split second later, one moved and then they all moved!

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with Canon EF 500mm f/4 L IS II USM lens with Canon 1.4x II extender at 700mm, ISO 250, 1/1250sec at f/9 tammymarlar.com Left John Porter This secretary bird – so named because of its plumage resembling quill pens – was sitting in a tree shortly after dawn at Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa.

It stayed for a while, which gave me many opportunities to get the right shot and I think this was the best of the bunch.

Canon EOS 1Dx with 100-400mm lens and 1.4x extender at 379 mm, ISO 400, 1/400sec at f/7.1, handheld jdpphotos.co.uk

104 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Right John Seager I took this image of a gelada baboon in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L lens at 45mm, ISO 100, 1/100sec at f/4, handheld Below Gavin Hayhurst The Kgalagadi Leopard Project, run by Dr Matthew Schurch, has named all the leopards in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, in Botswana and South Africa. This is Safran, a beautiful female who lives round the Lijersdraai area. We came across her lying in the road on our way back to camp one evening.

After watching her for a few minutes she got up and moved a short way o the road, where I took this portrait. She then began calling softly and, after a minute or two, a tiny cub emerged from a thicket. We watched as the two of them walked o down the road before they turned and disappeared into the bush.

Canon EOS 7D MkII with Canon EF 100400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II USM lens at 200mm, ISO 800, 1/500sec at f/5.6, rested on beanbag on car window gavinhayhurst.com

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 105

Above Graham Tarrant Bald eagles were flying up and down Anan Creek in Alaska, USA. Being above them on a viewing platform gave me the opportunity to take images from this unusual perspective.

Nikon D810 with 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 200mm, ISO 800, 1/800sec at f/4, handheld Opposite (top) Caroline Briggs I took this image of antelope at sunset near the Pom Pom Camp, a private concession in the Okavango Delta on the western boundary of the Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana.

Canon EOS 7D MkII with Canon 100-400mm IS II USM lens at 182mm, ISO 250, 1/500sec at f/8

106 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Opposite (bottom) Pod Parton For one reason or another my wife and I had not previously been able to visit Africa, so last September we took the plunge and booked a trip to Kenya – staying at two camps and taking in 14 safaris over seven days. It was a fantastic experience to see these beautiful animals in their natural habitats. On the first evening, we came across this black rhino calf feeding, with its mother close by.

Canon EOS 5D MkII with 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens at 562mm, ISO 1600, 1/400sec at f/6.3, handheld

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 107

108 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Opposite Steve Mcdonald This image was shot at Redondo Beach, California, USA. These herons hang out in large numbers waiting for the fishermen to return.

Perched on a restaurant roof, they make a point of keeping an eye on the people below.

Canon EOS 5D with 75-300mm lens at 300mm, ISO 100, 1/250sec at f/5.6, handheld african-mystique.co.uk Right Tony Matthews These two female baboons and their offspring in Kruger National Park, South Africa, appeared to be resting and having a good chat.

Canon EOS 1Dx MkII with EF 500mm f/4 L IS II USM lens, ISO 1600, 1/640sec at f/8, supported on car window frame flickr.com/photos/ammatthews Below Catherine Bullen While sitting in a lagoon hide in South Africa waiting to see what birds would appear, I started to make out a shape on the far bank and realised there was a crocodile resting in the grasses. I wanted to include the reflections in the water to highlight the camouflage.

Nikon D500 with Nikon 200-500mm lens at 210mm, ISO 320, 1/125sec at f/5.6, tripod catherinebullen.co.uk

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 109

110 Outdoor Photography July 2018

Opposite (top) Peter Maguire Anna’s hummingbird is only four inches long and being fast moving is challenging to photograph. This male was otherwise preoccupied with displaying, to mark his territory, and allowed me to walk quietly to within two metres to obtain a frame-filling image of it showing the variable colours in its throat as the iridescent plumage reflected the light. It was taken in San Francisco’s Crissy Field, a former US Army airfield that is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Nikon D7100 with 70-300mm lens at 300mm, ISO 400, 1/1000sec at f/11, handheld pmfoto.co.uk

Opposite (bottom) Gaurav Medikeri It was 6.30am and rays of sunlight were streaming through the trees in the Kabini forest, Karnataka, India. This handsome leopard strolled towards us and then paused to soak up the warmth of the sun. I had taken images of this leopard three years before and was very happy to see him still alive and doing well.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII with EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS II USM lens at 300mm, ISO 500, 1/2000sec at f/2.8, handheld from a jeep 500px.com/gauravsmedikeri

Your next challenge ENTER ONLINE NOW! Masterful landscapes Much of the enjoyment in landscape photography derives from the craft of putting an image together in the viewfinder. Ordinary scenes can be elevated into enthralling photographs through knowledgeable and careful composition, and these skills are often what set apart the very best photographers from the rest of us. Whether it’s through the careful inclusion of lead-in lines, balancing the various elements in an image or the informed use of negative space, for example, mindful composition can make your landscape photographs extraordinary.

Make sure you have a thorough read of Richard Garvey-Williams’ revealing article on advanced composition for landscapes on page 28, and then send us your very best images to fit the theme to be in with a chance of being published in the October 2018 issue.

To submit your images, go to outdoorphotographymagazine.co.uk/ submissions. The closing date for entries is 18 July 2018.

See page 62 for more details and terms and conditions.

Above Ben Penson In the early hours of the morning this female brown bear and her two boisterous cubs approached our hide, set within the Taiga forest of northern Finland. With no other bears about, she took the opportunity to grab a few minutes well-earned rest.

Nikon D4 with Nikkor 600mm f/4 VR lens, ISO 1600, 1/500sec at f/4, tripod 500px.com/benpenson

Enter and you could win a MSR WindBurner Duo Stove System, worth £160!

The winner of our ‘Masterful landscapes’ competition will not only see their image published in the October 2018 issue of OP, but will also receive a superb MSR WindBurner Duo Stove System. Its ingenious radiant burner is far more wind resistant than open flame stoves and promises to perform in more challenging weather conditions than conventional portable stoves and cookers. Ideal for two, the 1.8-litre pot is engineered to enclose the burner to keep the wind out and maximise heat transfer, so you’re delicious meal will quickly be ready to eat.

Find out more at msrgear.com

July 2018 Outdoor Photography 111

COMPETITION

© Shutterstock.com

Where in the world?

If you can identify the location of this stunning natural arch in the image above, you could win a superb Manfrotto Pro Light FastTrack, worth £109.95!

Where is it?

This stunning natural arch is in one of the world’s most beautiful locations, which is known for its beaches. Is it found at:

a) Natural Bridges State Beach, USA b) Port Campbell National Park, Australia c) Playa de las Catedrales, Spain The answer and the winner’s name will be revealed in OP235 (on sale 23 August 2018). You can enter online at outdoorphotographymagazine. co.uk/c/win, using ‘Arch232’ as the code, or send your answer to opcomp@thegmcgroup.com, stating ‘Arch232’ as the subject. Alternatively, drop it in the post to: Where in the world – ‘Arch232’, OP, 86 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1XN. Deadline for entry is midnight on 18 July 2018.

112 Outdoor Photography July 2018

THIS MONTH’S GREAT PRIZE

APRIL ISSUE WINNER

A Manfrotto Pro Light FastTrack

In our April issue, we asked you to identify the stunning bay in the image below.

This month we’ve teamed up with Manfrotto to offer the winner a superb Pro Light FastTrack 2-in-1 sling camera bag – the first sling bag for photographers to feature an integrated camera strap.

The bag is perfect for travel photographers: the adjustable strap makes accessing the camera quick and easy plus the lockable buckles safeguard kit from getting dropped or stolen. The FastTrack can also store up to two additional lenses and has extra pockets for other accessories.

For more information go to manfrotto.co.uk

Worth

£109.95!

The correct answer is: b) Navagio Bay, Greece

Shutterstock.com

ENTER ONLINE NOW!

Carol Hall from Branton, Doncaster, is the winner of the Lowepro Flipside 300 AW II backpack.

Congratulations! We will be in touch soon...

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