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Week 5 – Photography of a Place

Updated: 22 hours ago

The landscape photograph is often taken for granted. On the walls of peoples homes and offices, it will be overlooked and ignored. But in reality, what a landscape photograph should do is make people feel. “When viewers look at your work, their hearts should jump. You want them to feel the same emotions that you felt, standing in the middle of nature and bringing back something amazing.” (Mansurov, 2020)

One place that is a hotspot for landscape photographers is Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands. Made famous by being used in James Bond, and popular for hikers, “The drive through Glen Coe is like no other.” (Scott, 2022). A drive I have done myself, it is as picture perfect as you could imagine, the mountains give a sense of calm, peace, and happiness as you enter the Highlands.

Scottish photographer Colin Prior has taken a number of photographs in Glen Coe. Prior has won many awards for his work, and is known for his panoramic shots. Panoramic photography “takes the preoccupation with horizontal orientation in landscape photography to an extreme degree” (Alexander, 2015).

(Prior)
(Prior)

Looking at this image, it shows Priors’ love for photographs taken in the Golden Hour, the shadows of the sun being just beyond the horizon adds an extra element of calm to the image, and makes the audience feel the sense of peace which is important for a successful landscape photograph. Prior has said “I try to capture the high-points of experience, moments of living at its richest.” (Prior, 1990) giving the sense that the choosing of this moment to take the photograph is to give the audience the tranquillity that he felt on the top of that mountain.

Composition is very important in every photo, but especially in landscape images. Jesse Alexander says “it is not necessarily the land that makes the landscape, but how the photographer approaches, works with, and presents the finished photograph wherein the artistry lies” (Alexander, 2015) which Prior does agree to. This is shown in an interview he did with Outdoor photography “Without doubt, composition plays the single most important role, however what I feel is far more important than a single great photograph is a body of work that is linked by an identifiable personal style.” (Prior, 2022) This image shows this, as well as having Priors panoramic style, it also has textbook composition. The rule of thirds is most prominent, with the horizon on the top horizontal line, and the peak of the frontmost mountain sitting on the intersection between the top and right lines.

To conclude, Colin Prior’s work with landscape not only agrees with many other practitioners’ thoughts, but also connects with an audience beyond being a good photograph to decorate a plain wall with. His work is award-winning for a reason, and his use of panoramic shots is what makes him stick out from the thousands of other prolific landscape photographers.

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