Photography News Issue 29

Photography News Issue 29 absolutephoto.com

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Technique

Winter landscapes Cool your shoots There’s no time for chilling out this winter. Instead, make sure you put the Zen into frozen with this blizzard of frosty photo technique advice and inspiration from Charlie Waite and winners of the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition

winter months when you’d expect it. Those are going to be high and isolated spots, of course, but then those just happen to be among themost obviously photogenic, too.Win-win. Location wise, generally the higher you get, and the further north, the more likely you are to find frozen conditions, so while at sea level the morning may escape without a frost, the same day can hold thick snows at just a few hundred metres in the same locale. That doesn’t mean that you need to climb, of course; if you’re surrounded by snowy peaks, they can cap a scene perfectly. For a fresh perspective on winter shooting, we caught up with Charlie Waite, renowned landscape photographer and founder of the Take a View: Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, fresh from announcing 2015’s winners – many of which include

superb icy and snowy views. How does he feel about winter shooting in the UK? “Well, the weather that we experience in Britain can, at times, be frustrating. It is certainly challenging and the sheer variety of conditions that can be experienced within very short time periods or within very small geographical areas never ceases to amaze – but the feeling of achievement that results when everything falls into place cannot be underestimated.” Winter shooting, according to Charlie, is also anopportunity topushyourself, bothphysically and creatively; “Certainly,” he continues, “the weather can encourage us to explore different styles of photography and to choose subjects outside our usual comfort zone that work better with the conditions.” Andwhat if the conditions look just a little too cold outsidewhile your bed’s still too warm and inviting? This is what spurs

Written by Kingsley Singleton

If you were asked to think of winter landscapes in the UK, recent experience is less than likely to throw up mental images of pristine snow- encrusted vistas; you’re more likely to imagine acres of flood, forests of collapsed umbrellas and a general sea of miserable mud. But at the right times and in the right places, there is still a wonderland of sparkling frost and unbroken fields of snowout there to be found. That ‘but’ really starts with getting your own butt out of your comfort zone, and putting in some serious miles – and possibly uncomfortable hours – to get to the placeswhere the conditions are right. Yes, there are plenty of spots in the UK where snow and ice exists for the majority of the year, let alone the core

The feeling of achievement that results when everything falls into place cannot be underestimated

Above Landscape Photographer of the Year winner 2011: Winter Field, Stirlingshire, by Robert Fulton.

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