This is more or less a response to the conditions that have kept me away from the outdoors. Also a subtle rant towards the all-consuming weather that prevents any scrap of nice light on the one window I may get.
This is more for the self-supporting -non professional.
I feel that to be able to truly expand upon the art of landscape photography, one needs to overcome significantly more hurdles than just refining technique. There are various other factors that could dictate how much one expands themselves in this particular field, and these are just some of the factors I‘ve compiled:
1. Access to finances- One needs to be able to adequately support: travel expenditures: food, lodging, gas, hiking equipment, e.t.c. ; initial gear purchases, gear replacement, a stable and memory-loaded computer, various software, e.t.c.
2. Flexible Employment- One needs to have an employer that will grant unusual and consistent blocks of days off to permit travel , and coming across an employer who grants this degree of time off and will grant the sufficiency of funds nearly stands as a paradox.
3. Suitable Health and Fitness- One needs to be fit enough to access specific regions on foot. One needs to be capable of enduring long extents of travel. One’s body needs to be capable of ingesting uncommon forms of nutrition on some occasions. One needs to be able to survive without the access to some modern conveniences. One’s body needs to be tolerable to the extreme conditions. One needs to be able to elude long-term injury.
4. Proper Navigational and Survival Skills- If one wants to excel in the art, eventually they’ll have to go beyond well-maintained paths far from any forms of lodging. One needs to hold the skills necessary to nourish and sustain themselves for multiple days in the backcountry. Ability to effectively use a map and compass is crucial towards finding a specific scenic or the avoidance of getting lost.
5. The Baggage Factor- The father or husband in you may see that it is best to not undergo as many outings for the well-being of your family. Various other family or friend commitments. You may feel that it is necessary to devote time to your other hobbies as well.
6. One’s Location- There is little relief for those born in tornado alley.
7. Cooperative Conditions- If one is following the two-day off a week, two-weeks off a year societal structure, I wish you luck granted the weather of the northwest. Weather factors can be a major determinant of what type of shots one will get. Weather also holds the ability to block access to available trails.
I feel that a skilled photographer’s seemingly miraculous ability to evade all of these obstacles really widen the path to success in photography for him/her ,while the less fortunate may be weighed down by their hindrances. I can’t imagine how many very skilled photographers were never able to really achieve to the degree they had hoped based on an inability to address a said factor. I feel that some of one’s success in photography is relative to some of the fortunes they had no control over, e.g., location one is born in. When we applaud someone’s collection of varied landscapes, are we also applauding his/her ability to overcome the latent difficulties?
I feel that success in most other arts is more exclusive to one’s honing of a technique than anything else. I’ve often wanted to draw or create music for the additional artistic release, if only for the accessibility alone. Waiting through an off season to photograph can be dreadful if one can’t promptly visit zion or something similar.
When I question if I will ever be able to match my hopes in nature photography, I have to question which routes I will need to take in the other fields in order to get me to nature photography at its optimal level.
Great commentary Trevor, I think you summed up a lot of the factors which many of us can sadly relate to. In the end, we all have to decide at which lengths we wish to go and what things will take a back seat to our decisions on which level we are comfortable with. For those who jump into full time photography, other factors come into play which makes the decision even more heavy...such as health insurance and retirement plans, just to name a few. Then there are the added dimensions of becoming a writer, business owner, sales person, and so on.
Very interesting....lots of which most of us have thought about at one time or another....
I will say that as much as I would like to be a full time photographer and just sell prints, I know it would not fund my kind of lifestyle, retirement, health insurance and so on...that is the main reason I am employed by someone else....health wise, good. Vacation time from work, Great...(hence the 3 months I am taking off this summer) Location.....ha...almost perfect!!!! the Northwest is right where I want to live...I would like to visit the mid west during their storms and get some cool shots of an F5...I have always been fascinated by storms!!!
Family....I have said before I have a very understanding wife with whom I just had a baby girl 2 months ago and she knows how important it is for me to get out and go shooting...like my 16 mile hike I am doing tomorrow by myself!!!!
I am sure your post will open the eyes of some as it is something I have thought about for a while....
I would mostly agree, Trevor. These are all obstacles I have spent most of my life trying to remove myself from. But with that said, great photographs can be found close to home, without much time and with the commitment of a professional career - just look at Guy Tal's work.
All of life is a trade off.
When I was a dirt bag rock climber, I had nothing, no money, no girl friend, no insurance. All I had was my climbing gear, a sleeping bag and a tent. I averaged climbing every other day for almost ten years.
Now, I have cars, own a business, own a house, have a wife, a child, commitments... can't do as much but still, I do a lot.
Life changes but so far, I'm damn happy.
I would agree with Marc's statement about premium photographs available close to home and close to the trail/road. They will definitely be fewer, but there are still areas easily accessed with arthritic knees that have been little-photographed. These are areas I'm aquainted with only because I've been forced to explore "around home"; mainly Gifford Pinchot, a rather underated forest in my opinion and I intend to spend much of the rest of my life photographing it.
I would also disagree with you about the weather here. I take the opposite view, and say that it actually presents us with unique lighting conditions, dramatic skies, and misty landscapes you won't find in the Southwest (as far as I know )
All-in-all though, I agree with your overall post. lot's of obstecles. For me, it seems that the more money I make, the more resposibility I get, and of course this reduces my opportunities to get out with the camera.
But here's the upside to all that. I'll bet dollars to donuts, that there are times when Marc, Guy, Art Wolfe, and others feel like a lot of the "fun" went out of their photography when they went professional. I used to love to play with computers. 13 years ago, I got a job in Technical Support for Symantec. Almost immediately, the hobby factor began to leave computers for me. a couple years later I started editing and writing computer How-To books for McMillan Publishing, using my evenings, weekends, and even some of my vacation time when a tight deadline was upon me. I did that for 5 years. by the time I was done, I hated computers.
Now, I have ONE job, as a quality assurance engineer. I work a 40 hour week most of the time, and occasionally I'll have to put in a run of 50 or 60 hour weeks. Do I still hate computers? most of the time yes, but not when I'm working in Photoshop. I worry that if I ever got get good enough to turn pro, and then make the decision to do so, that I would throw myself into so completely that I would begin to hate cameras.... I sure don't want that to happen!!!
You can always expand your photographic horizons and be quite successful doing close up, macro, city and portrait photography. Has for me, I've always loved to hike and usually go at least once a week. I love being out in nature and have alot of outdoor hobbies. Nature photography has just added to my passion of the outdoors. It's nice to have good equipment but the photographer aims the camera and composes the scene.
Erik-- as a person who exudes my highest passion for photography when I am capturing something deep in the outdoors, I doubt I could deliver the same enthusiasm towards your aforementioned subjects. There is an indefinable magic to the treks through the wild lands that fully conjure my emotions and give me the spark necessary to further push the photographic envelope. To further develop this emotion, I know I will eventually desire to go deeper and deeper. I am sure there are many others that hold similar feelings.
Curtis-- It is true that hobbies and work can rarely mesh without damage to one. If something that was your primary source of relief has become your work, to which now do you turn for comfort? That is why I believe that a professional career is not the consummation of photography; rather a greater connection to word and its wild areas, and a heightened sense of interior peace. But, then again I'd surely like to attempt to pay the bills with photography at some point, if only to fully validate my comments; I would mostly appreciate the paid travel.
It is true that dynamical weather can extremely contribute to a particular scene, and one particularly stunning display of light and weather coupled with an interesting foreground could grant a once and a lifetime image, but be aware of the brevity of these displays. The trade off for awe-inspiring scenes brought by our weather patterns is having many days with flat conditions; which illustrates the need for additional time to hit certain areas at their-brief-peak moments
I can agree about one expanding the art within a particular region, but to reiterate what was mentioned above, eventually one will see the need to go deeper and deeper. Seeing some land of great difference serves to further enlighten the uniqueness of our own areas. There is also something that could be said about the benefit of challenging ourselves photographically by thrusting ourselves into a land that requires a different approach. Also, if one's approach is for financial profit, then the odds of getting selected over one who has similar skills and markets themselves similarly, but has a portfolio that traces more regions, would be slim.
Discussion
8 repliesThis is more for the self-supporting -non professional.
I feel that to be able to truly expand upon the art of landscape photography, one needs to overcome significantly more hurdles than just refining technique. There are various other factors that could dictate how much one expands themselves in this particular field, and these are just some of the factors I‘ve compiled:
1. Access to finances- One needs to be able to adequately support: travel expenditures: food, lodging, gas, hiking equipment, e.t.c. ; initial gear purchases, gear replacement, a stable and memory-loaded computer, various software, e.t.c.
2. Flexible Employment- One needs to have an employer that will grant unusual and consistent blocks of days off to permit travel , and coming across an employer who grants this degree of time off and will grant the sufficiency of funds nearly stands as a paradox.
3. Suitable Health and Fitness- One needs to be fit enough to access specific regions on foot. One needs to be capable of enduring long extents of travel. One’s body needs to be capable of ingesting uncommon forms of nutrition on some occasions. One needs to be able to survive without the access to some modern conveniences. One’s body needs to be tolerable to the extreme conditions. One needs to be able to elude long-term injury.
4. Proper Navigational and Survival Skills- If one wants to excel in the art, eventually they’ll have to go beyond well-maintained paths far from any forms of lodging. One needs to hold the skills necessary to nourish and sustain themselves for multiple days in the backcountry. Ability to effectively use a map and compass is crucial towards finding a specific scenic or the avoidance of getting lost.
5. The Baggage Factor- The father or husband in you may see that it is best to not undergo as many outings for the well-being of your family. Various other family or friend commitments. You may feel that it is necessary to devote time to your other hobbies as well.
6. One’s Location- There is little relief for those born in tornado alley.
7. Cooperative Conditions- If one is following the two-day off a week, two-weeks off a year societal structure, I wish you luck granted the weather of the northwest. Weather factors can be a major determinant of what type of shots one will get. Weather also holds the ability to block access to available trails.
I feel that a skilled photographer’s seemingly miraculous ability to evade all of these obstacles really widen the path to success in photography for him/her ,while the less fortunate may be weighed down by their hindrances. I can’t imagine how many very skilled photographers were never able to really achieve to the degree they had hoped based on an inability to address a said factor. I feel that some of one’s success in photography is relative to some of the fortunes they had no control over, e.g., location one is born in. When we applaud someone’s collection of varied landscapes, are we also applauding his/her ability to overcome the latent difficulties?
I feel that success in most other arts is more exclusive to one’s honing of a technique than anything else. I’ve often wanted to draw or create music for the additional artistic release, if only for the accessibility alone. Waiting through an off season to photograph can be dreadful if one can’t promptly visit zion or something similar.
When I question if I will ever be able to match my hopes in nature photography, I have to question which routes I will need to take in the other fields in order to get me to nature photography at its optimal level.
Any additional thoughts?
Very interesting....lots of which most of us have thought about at one time or another....
I will say that as much as I would like to be a full time photographer and just sell prints, I know it would not fund my kind of lifestyle, retirement, health insurance and so on...that is the main reason I am employed by someone else....health wise, good. Vacation time from work, Great...(hence the 3 months I am taking off this summer) Location.....ha...almost perfect!!!! the Northwest is right where I want to live...I would like to visit the mid west during their storms and get some cool shots of an F5...I have always been fascinated by storms!!!
Family....I have said before I have a very understanding wife with whom I just had a baby girl 2 months ago and she knows how important it is for me to get out and go shooting...like my 16 mile hike I am doing tomorrow by myself!!!!
I am sure your post will open the eyes of some as it is something I have thought about for a while....
Cheers
D
When I was a dirt bag rock climber, I had nothing, no money, no girl friend, no insurance. All I had was my climbing gear, a sleeping bag and a tent. I averaged climbing every other day for almost ten years.
Now, I have cars, own a business, own a house, have a wife, a child, commitments... can't do as much but still, I do a lot.
Life changes but so far, I'm damn happy.
I would also disagree with you about the weather here. I take the opposite view, and say that it actually presents us with unique lighting conditions, dramatic skies, and misty landscapes you won't find in the Southwest (as far as I know
All-in-all though, I agree with your overall post. lot's of obstecles. For me, it seems that the more money I make, the more resposibility I get, and of course this reduces my opportunities to get out with the camera.
But here's the upside to all that. I'll bet dollars to donuts, that there are times when Marc, Guy, Art Wolfe, and others feel like a lot of the "fun" went out of their photography when they went professional. I used to love to play with computers. 13 years ago, I got a job in Technical Support for Symantec. Almost immediately, the hobby factor began to leave computers for me. a couple years later I started editing and writing computer How-To books for McMillan Publishing, using my evenings, weekends, and even some of my vacation time when a tight deadline was upon me. I did that for 5 years. by the time I was done, I hated computers.
Now, I have ONE job, as a quality assurance engineer. I work a 40 hour week most of the time, and occasionally I'll have to put in a run of 50 or 60 hour weeks. Do I still hate computers? most of the time yes, but not when I'm working in Photoshop. I worry that if I ever got get good enough to turn pro, and then make the decision to do so, that I would throw myself into so completely that I would begin to hate cameras.... I sure don't want that to happen!!!
Curtis-- It is true that hobbies and work can rarely mesh without damage to one. If something that was your primary source of relief has become your work, to which now do you turn for comfort? That is why I believe that a professional career is not the consummation of photography; rather a greater connection to word and its wild areas, and a heightened sense of interior peace. But, then again I'd surely like to attempt to pay the bills with photography at some point, if only to fully validate my comments; I would mostly appreciate the paid travel.
It is true that dynamical weather can extremely contribute to a particular scene, and one particularly stunning display of light and weather coupled with an interesting foreground could grant a once and a lifetime image, but be aware of the brevity of these displays. The trade off for awe-inspiring scenes brought by our weather patterns is having many days with flat conditions; which illustrates the need for additional time to hit certain areas at their-brief-peak moments
I can agree about one expanding the art within a particular region, but to reiterate what was mentioned above, eventually one will see the need to go deeper and deeper. Seeing some land of great difference serves to further enlighten the uniqueness of our own areas. There is also something that could be said about the benefit of challenging ourselves photographically by thrusting ourselves into a land that requires a different approach. Also, if one's approach is for financial profit, then the odds of getting selected over one who has similar skills and markets themselves similarly, but has a portfolio that traces more regions, would be slim.
Yes, but I'm trying to remain in blissful denial of this fact until I can afford a vacation to Alaska, Yukon, and Banff/Jasper
Seriously, though, you do have a valid point.