The winter sun

The winter sun has always been a subject I keep returning to. Often I have used it in my pictures when the skies are overcast and I can look at it comfortably with the naked eye. For if I can stare at it without causing damage to my eye, then it can be recorded without blowing out the exposure.

Anonymous location, Hokkaido 2023

Fjallabak nature reserve, Iceland 2022

If one is seeking to have a recognisable style in their work, then recognising when you are drawn to certain subjects can reveal where your aesthetics and visual sensibilities lie.

I do not go seeking themes in my work consciously, but rather tend to discover them as they surface slowly and gradually as a repeating feature in my imagery. Zooming out, whilst reviewing one’s work is always beneficial in noticing patterns and repeating themes in one’s work. Often I can only notice them when I look at my work from a span of many years.

Hokkaido 2019

Fjallabak nature reserve, 2017

The winter sun is always a symbol of hope. It is a reminder that summer is never that far away, and even when the winter is at its shortest day, and darkness seems to prevail, the light will soon be coming back.

Since the 21st of December we have been on a trajectory towards longer and warmer days. I often take stock on this day. Consider that the solstice has always been an important part of man’s life-cycle and that of the Earth’s. I do love all the seasons and perhaps for me winter is the most atmospheric and photogenic. But I know that for all of us, we all seek the light and warmth of a coming summer.

Hokkaido 2018

Hokkaido 2015


Within Reach

I always think my job is to stay out of the way of my own pictures. The viewer should be blissfully unaware of the photographer’s presence in the work.

If the composition is too considered, then the viewer may be aware of a degree of contrivance in the work. If the composition is not considered enough, then the work may lack focus or clear intention.

Same for editing: if the work is over ‘processed’ in look, then a feeling of a need to impress, or a lack of believability may exist, and linger, no matter how much one tries to adapt to the work.

In either of these cases, the viewer is aware of the photographer lurking in the background. Because they can feel poor judgement in the work.

To be invisible whilst also conveying a sense of style in one’s work is perhaps the hardest thing to pull off. Both feel as if they are mutually exclusive. And yet both are required.

It reminds me that one must be part of their own work, but at the same time be outside of it.

Inside of it, and yet outside of it. Both existing at the same time.

A special place

Today I just wanted to post a few images from my recent edits.

I will be heading back to Hokkaido next week, and will be spending a month in Japan. I have a few research projects on the go…..

Winter Sun over snow field, Hokkaido January 2023

Optimal Conditions

I’m about half-way through editing the images I shot in Hokkaido last January. The new portfolio is really a collection of old-friends but shot in the most optimal conditions I have experienced so far.

I have no problem repeating locations every year, if the conditions show me another view of a tree or location I know well. With the photograph above, I found this location with my guide around 2016. It is on private land (as is most of Hokkaido - go there on your own and you will be shooting from the roadside at best). We always ask for permission to enter land, and with this location, it is government owned. We have to walk in on snow shows to get the best views and some years that I come here, there is not always so much snow here. But last year we had quite a lot of snow across the entirety of Hokkaido.

So I really don’t mind going back and shooting compositions or views that I have done before. Particularly if I feel I’m getting a more optimal view of the location.

I think this is perhaps a reaction to the ‘I’ve been there and done it’ kind of thing. Places are always worth going back to many times. Once for me is often never enough. But I accept that when you have finite resources, finite time, perhaps it’s of more interest to go to somewhere new each time. I just think for my own development as a photographer, growing into a landscape / culture over many visits is just a much more rewarding experience, and provides a deeper connection.

Hokkaido January 2023

I have a backlog of images from the past few years to attend to. I’ve only just got round to working on my images from last year’s Hokkaido tour. We had some of the most favourable conditions to date on any of the tours we’ve done, and this one particular location worked so beautifully. Literally the trees were floating in the air at times, but somehow today, I don’t feel like illustrating that. I much prefer to just show you a slightly mauve sunset shot of my favourite tree in Hokkaido.

I rarely worry about having a backlog of images. I’ve found that I can let images sit around for a year or two before I edit them (I have a very nice portfolio of images from Senja that were taken in 2020, and each time I look at the films I am very excited about what I captured. But I think there needs to be a right time to edit them).

And so this week is Hokkaido week. I also have lots of nice images from Lencois Maranhenses in Brazil to edit too, but they are going to have to wait.

Mood or Circumstance? Or both?

Reviewing my Harris images from November 2022 and November 2023, I am struck by the contrast between the two.

Harris images from November 2022:

And the images below are from 2023:

One could ask why they are so different? And I think they are different for a number of reasons:

1 The weather and lighting conditions were quite different between the two portfolios. I was particularly aware that we had softer light this past November compared to my visit in 2022. It was also much less stormy this past November and I remember feeling that there was more sunlight. The weather was more reminiscent of summer. The seasons were later this year being an el-niño year.

2 Because the lighting conditions were softer this year, I found that even when I did try to edit the work to feel more dramatic, or use darker tones and contrasts, I felt as though I was working against the true nature of the subject. I had difficulty working on my most recent set because of this and had to go back and start again.

3 Personal mood. I am aware that if I chose to edit the same set of images at a different time, I may approach them differently. Some times I find my edits are bold while other times I find that I tend to go more soft and airy with the work. I have found these fluctuations in my other destinations that I go to. My Lencois Maranhenses Brazil imagery for instance is often soft and airy, but last year I found that I produced a more dramatic series of images. This is definitely due to my own mood of where I am with my ‘art’ but also down to what the weather provided for me.

Comparison is the thief of Joy

I have often thought this statement to be true. Comparing oneself to others is not a healthy approach. So too is comparing one’s own work to another’s. There is also the un-constructive view of comparing one’s own work to other work you have produced. To evaluate yourself against previous successes is also fraught with unhealthy views. In a way, one must learn to ‘let go’, and accept that one’s work will vary, one’s own focus will fluctuate and to be quite blunt: sometimes the work will be better or worse for no other reason than that is just what it is.

Learning to live with one’s own inner inconsistencies is perhaps the answer. Or simply accepting that the work you produce today is nothing more than what you did today, and is no reflection on whether you are getting better or worse in your work. If you have difficulty with some work, then either park it and come back to it later, or if you are finding that it’s impossible to find the right approach, then just produce it anyway, so you can get it out of the way to allow for something else to enter your life.

I have often thought about ‘writer’s block’. That situation where the artist or writer finds dissatisfaction with everything they do. The best remedy is to take a more cavalier approach to what you do and just get through the period of what you don’t like. Even if you think the work is sub-standard, I think the only solution is to produce it, so it is now out of the way, and keep looking ahead.

The White City

It is my view, that the majority of the world has not been photographed (there is still much to do), and for those few places that have been photographed, they have, for the most part, not been photographed to their full potential.

So when someone tells me ‘Iceland has been done’, or ‘Yosemite has been done’, or even for that matter ‘Venice has been done’, I think they are missing the point.

These places may have been photographed a lot, but have they been photographed to their full potential? I think not. Do we see individuality in the majority of the photos of these known places? I do not think so.

I write this with the positive view that there is always a new take on some place, and to assume that all the best places in the world have now been photographed simply isn’t true (consider that most photographs happen within 200 feet of a car, then you can appreciate that we’ve only really scratched the surface).

And that is where I think we are at now. Perhaps doing something ‘new’ in a tried and tested place is to set the bar too high (it would be quite an achievement to show a view that others have not seen).

But this should not deter us from at least attempting to produce the best work we can. Because if we try to be as good as we can be, we may hopefully be able to impart a sense of our own identity upon the work we produce.

Even if it’s just a tiny bit.

Puna de Atacama

Just to let you know that if you’ve been thinking of coming to the Puna de Atacama with me this March, that bookings will close on the 5th of January.

We need to finalise the rooms for the tour after this point.

So if you’re thinking of coming, either drop me a line to discuss, or book before 5th of January.

I scrapped everything.....

For the very first time, I am scrapping a whole pile of new work when I am at an advanced stage of the edits.

Perhaps a bit of the winter blues has kicked in as my mood is not so good right now. I have noticed that when I am tired, my edits go downhill dramatically and I cannot ‘see’ what to do, or where to go with the work. The results tend to become unfocussed and poor when I am like this. Often it is sleep and some rest is always the cure.

I have decided to write this post today, with really two aims in mind: one is to draw a line under what I’m currently doing and shelve it. The other is really to illustrate that we all suffer from indecision, lack of inspiration at times, and lack of focus. Despite my mood telling me the work has no value, my heart tells me that this is really a case of taking a step back, resting, and doing something else for a while. The images will still be there, ready to go, when I do feel my mojo has returned.

So I think I will show you all my Harris images from last year.

Iceland Erruption

I find this guy the best, regarding the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland.