Inching into the scene
Having noted that I didn’t shoot much landscape in the last year, I determined to make more of an effort to break out of my wildlife rut and back into a less documentary and more creative genre. It turns out that’s not an easy thing for me to do. Perhaps, with it being January and with all the trees being rather barren, this was always going to be a challenge. Accordingly, I think it’s fair to say that I somewhat failed. At least, so far.
It’s not simply that I’ve failed to take landscape photos, it’s also that the photos that I’ve taken are still just as documentary as ever. Aside from adding some compositional elements, all I feel I’ve really done is swap blue tits for silver birches and goldfinches for stone barns. Absent is the creative element that I like to think occasionally distinguishes my images. Well, I like to think that, anyway.
But I have been trying! As evidence, I include the below image. This is what my passenger seat looks like when I go out to take landscape photos…
It looks like a lot of kit. It’s certainly heavy kit. I can’t carry it all into a field all at once; it’s physically too much weight for me to carry, even though right now I’m more fit than I have been for quite some time.
When I go out to take wildlife photos, I only need one body and one lens. I shoot with a Nikon D5300 and Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens. It’s lightweight and I generally don’t have to carry it too far.. usually to a hide, but occasionally along a hedgerow in a field beside the road. It’s no great hardship and I could happily walk any distance with this setup.
Every now and again, I’m inspired to take out my Nikon D3000 with Nikkor 16-85mm lens. This is converted to 590nm (“Goldie”) infrared, but I tend to only get this out when the sun is shining brightly and I can shoot at around f/8. The 16-85mm zoom lens is extremely versatile but I’ve had some focusing issues with it. I’ve changed some autofocus settings that have definitely helped and I’m still assessing whether or not the lens is a solution for me.
This is what you’ll find in my main camera bag, and dear god is it heavy!? The main culprits are the two D800 bodies and the Nikkor 17-35mm and Sigma 105mm macro lenses. I could (and should) further lighten the load by removing flash guns and extension tubes, spare camera batteries and battery chargers, but the truth is I’m terrified that if they’re not in my bag, I may need them in the field.
Of course, I don’t need to carry extension tubes if I have my macro lens with me, and I don’t need battery chargers in the field since I always charge my batteries before I leave the house, it’s simply the “prepper” in me that compels me to have with me everything I might need.. just in case! But I think I still need to carry at least one flash and flash modifier, on the off-chance I find a macro shot and need the additional light..
Of course once upon a time, regardless of its excesses, this amount of kit wouldn’t have been an issue. When I first developed diabetes some six or so years ago I actually got to the point where I couldn’t even carry a camera bag with a single body and lens in it. Thank goodness I’m past that point and I’m able to load up again.
But the issue today is that I’m old now and rather than being unfit, I’m frankly rather creaky. More and more I’m forced to give thought to the weight of the kit I’m carrying again, not because I’m tired or breathless but because I ache. Thank goodness for cod liver oil, or I’d be either on my knees (and unable to get up) or limited to a home studio and macro photography!
January’s gallery
Without further ado, please find below a gallery of January’s images. It’s still heavily bird-centric, but you’ll find at least a little bit of landscape photography interspersed through the month.
