STYLE #4 DAV I D C L A P P
I’vespentmanyyearsshootinglandscapesof all stylesandin all
seasons, but winter – and especially snowy wintry scenes – helps
to simplify images in a way that creates a fabulous calm. A painter
builds an image from a wash of midtones, adding features, tones,
detail and, finally, light. The camera is the reverse of this –
landscape photography is fundamentally a subtractive approach,
removing distractions from an already-full canvas, or viewfinder
in our case. Winter snow helps to simplify the landscape and
the more minimal the landscape becomes, the more direct the
connection. I crave simplistic shapes and form without distraction.
I approach my winter photography with rather limited accessories.
The usual lenses are with me all the time – 16-35mm, 24-70mm,
100-400mm, 1.4x teleconverter – but I do have a few polarisers
and 6-stop and 10-stop ND filters. I think that without my Rab
Expedition Jacket, snowshoes and poles, I’d struggle to get around
or hang around as long as I do in the Arctic winters. Going out in
brutal conditions can often yield exciting images, so you need to
be prepared. I carry a paint brush, which helps get grit, sand and
snow out of focusing rings and camera dials. I also regularly steal
restaurant serviettes, as they come in handy for mopping up any
melted snow or sea spray from the front of lenses – they’re far
better than camera cleaning cloths!
I ensure that the images are correctly exposed at all costs. Snow
scenes are often underexposed – a metering issue due to bright
highlights – so if I’m shooting snow handheld, I’ll often use
aperture-priority with exposure compensation at +1.5, to ensure
those whites are white. I’m always looking for Rembrandt lighting
- side lighting, in other words – to add dimension to any features
in the image. Shooting straight into the sun seems somewhat naive
to me now, but I won’t miss out on good sunset colours and deep
twilight if the conditions are right. I’m always hyperfocally
focusing my lenses, which is critical as focal lengths get longer,
to maximise my depth-of-field. I don’t use tables when shooting –
it’s all done in Live View, or simply from knowing the kit inside out.
SNOWY SCENES
HELP TO CREATE
A FABULOUS CALM
David Clapp is an award-winning travel,
landscape and architectural photographer.
He runs tours and enjoys teaching. In 2019
he received a Fellowship to the Royal
Photographic Society in recognition of ten
years as a leading pro. davidclapp.co.uk44 PRACTICAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Norway’sLofotenarchipelago
pr ovidesspectacularscenery
and the‘fabulouscalm’that
tr ansformsDavid’slandscapes.