Landscapes

I’ve been taking photographs for pleasure for over twenty five years. But until perhaps six or seven years ago I didn’t consider myself a landscape photographer. Basically because – landscapes are too far away for me to see.
In real terms – what am I looking at ? Where am I pointing the camera ? Is the horizon anywhere near straight ? What’s interesting here, at distances further than about three feet (my usual working / detecting distance). If one can’t tell those things how on earth does one even begin to imagine what camera settings to use ? How to frame shots ? Etc.
So landscapes for me a whole lot of trial and error, and throwaway shots. I really am guessing a lot of the time. Which means taking landscapes in places I haven’t visited before, and are not likely to visit again, a bit of a difficult one. I usually keep to places I know very well, because my on location reccy – that any other photographer would be doing with their eyes – is done by taking lots and lots of shots, bringing them home, and discovering what actually is out there. And going back and trying to use those initial “visual notes”.

Landscapes are going to be quite limited now that I don’t have dear Biggie, as getting anywhere other than very close to my house is going to be difficult to do alone, because I am a terrible long cane (aka blind person’s white stick) user. Not only am I not very good at it, I just don’t bloody well like using the damn thing either. It’s painful, I feel clumsy, and it’s crap company.
So landscapes now are only able to be done sporadically, with help. That help will come via my husband and Indy, his guide dog – to accompany me and do the “getting there without getting run over or falling into a bush” aspect of it. Or via a sighted guide from the Vision Norfolk Viewfinders photography group. More about them here.

In the meantime, in the best Blue Peter tradition … here are some I made earlier.

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