subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 22 June 2019 29
new landscapes
now is around climate change and
raising awareness. Even when we’re
out for a walk, those issues come out
in the photography. There might
still be a pretty picture, but there’s
usually a message behind it now.’
The couple’s abstract and political
interpretations of the landscape
have resulted in the addition of
elements and subject matter that
many traditionalists would strive to
exclude from their viewfinders
altogether. For instance, Morag’s
‘Bad Algae’ series features
compound images created from
merging various pictures taken over
two years. These elements include
images of pollution, dead wildlife
and diesel stains – not what you’d
expect to see at a ‘honeypot’
landscape location, but if the
definition of landscape is broadened
to include the environment where
we all live and interact, then such
gritty depictions are as valid to the
annals of landscape photography as
any dawn sunrise over Durdle Door.Breaking boundaries and myths
Valda Bailey believes the traditional
definitions and boundaries of
landscape photography are being
reset and the popularity of the
Bailey & Chinnery workshops
reflects this. She says: ‘We all know
that creativity thrives on boundaries,
so we encourage people to find
something that appeals to them- a tree, a mountain, a seascape, it
could even be a rusty waste paper
bin with a nice texture – and then
sit there for an hour and just try to
make as many different images as
they can.’ Valda also encourages
her clients to use camera modes
and settings in ways they weren’t
designed for, in order to break away
from the orthodox. ‘You’re really
limited only by your imagination,’
she says. ‘People find that exciting,
they find there’s great freedom, so if
I want the grass to be red, the grass
can be red. Nobody’s going to tell
me that I have to stick to the colours
that have been strictly dictated when
shooting conventionally. It’s a matter
of freedom and you start to play like
a child would play with crayons.’
While some may feel such abstract
interpretations lack authenticity,
even a ‘straight’ landscape shot isn’t
necessarily a true record of the scene.
As Al Brydon explains: ‘What you
perceive as a natural landscape is not
really the case; it’s been manipulated
and changed for millennia by
people. I try to think about those
people who’ve gone before me and
walked that path before me. You’re
photographing to speak for the
people who can’t speak any more.’
This concept inspired his dark
and moody series, ‘As We Wander’,
shot mostly in the Peak District.
‘The landscape I’m inhabiting will
still be here long after I’m gone,’ he
says. ‘I’m trying to comprehend this:
the massive amount of time during
which its contours are moulded by
both natural and unnatural
manipulation. I find it extremely
comforting to know that after I’ve
made my last photograph of the
landscape, it will continue to exist.
It will change as nature claims it
and humankind alters it. I will end.
You will end. The landscape
w ill remain.’Bad Algae 2, by Leeming & Paterson, merges images of pollution, water and dead wildlife
From Al Brydon’s
series, Solargraphs,
showing the effects
of moisture on a
pinhole camera
image exposed for
months outsideThe Watershed
- a giant cyanotype
tracing the
waterways of the
Galloway Glens, by
Leeming & Paterson
© Ted Leeming and morag PaTerson
© Ted Leeming and morag PaTerson