Struggling in the Heat

Shooting in Summer can be tough, is there anything worth snapping?

With my general leaning being towards landscape photography, I often struggle for inspiration during summer. Early sunrises and late sunsets mean catching the golden hour is made far more difficult, and evenly distributed light coverage during daylight hours can make images seem increasingly flat.

This is something I have definitely struggled with in the last four years, but just like using prime lenses forces one to adapt shooting distance, so the seeming plainness of summer can force adaptation too. For a long time I have found that my style has been landscapes, and if the subject isnt something spectacular then fine, the lighting needs to excellent. If the lighting isn't excellent then fine, it should at least be pin-sharp. This philosophy has worked when I'm shooting spectacular subjects in excellent light, Ullswater I is a good example. In fact, I think it's almost impossible to take bad photographs in the Lake District!

However, this philosophy also breeds an obsession with subject and lighting, and offers no weight to form, emotion, colour, texture etc. Which all have the ability to transform images which otherwise might seem mundane and everyday into pure artwork. Without doubt I am guilty of neglecting these features of photographs, and I think I've missed out as a result.

Looking through photography magazines and websites, one sees a lot of spectacular images. However, many of the best images are actually of commonplace subjects, but have universally appealing colour or form. Personally I believe this is why film photography gives photographers an instant leg-up. Film invokes a colour and/or tone to images which is inherent, and often deliberate. So often with digital photography the goal is to produce accurate colour and texture, then let the photographer decide what they really want after the fact when editing. Film photographers have an amount of post-scan editing at their disposal, but many believe this is sacrilege and should never be touched after development.

During the summer of 2023 I've been trying to make subjects which I would never normally shoot into something which is meaningful and interesting to potential viewers. Field is an example of part of the brief Manmade Structures in Nature, but also represents an everyday subject shot in seemingly boring light- however to me, the simple composition and the juxtaposition of the phone mast and rape flowers is exactly what I've been missing previously.

In short, never be put off shooting the mundane. Never believe that only spectacular subjects are worth shooting. Take your camera everywhere and take pictures of whatever sparks your curiosity.