"Paul Saunders" <
[email protected]> wrote
> Tony Simpkins wrote:
>
> > Often figures in a landscape 'make' the picture -
>
> I don't disagree, but as I said, a figure in a landscape is not the
same
> as a picture of a walker with a landscape in the background.
Understood.
>
> > it would be empty
> > and pointless without them.
>
> Sorry but I strongly disagree with that. Most landscape photographs
> don't have people in them and there's nothing empty or pointless
about
> them.
Not what I was suggesting.
> Some photos that are particularly lacking in foreground interest
> may benefit, but that's exception rather than the rule. People are
in
> no way compulsory in a landscape photograph.
Didn't say they were. I said that the figures often make the picture.
Take a look at these
http://www.simpkins57.freeserve.co.uk/tairraz.jpg
In my view the figures in these pictures are absolutely essential to
the success of the picture.
They give a sense of scale, obviously, but they also enhance the
landscape itself and are an integral part of it.
But, maybe they're not proper landscapes.
>
> Where would I find these?
Can't find anything worthwhile on the web.
His best books are "Between Heaven and Earth" written by Gaston
Rebuffat - photos mainly be Pierre Tairraz but also by other members
of the Tairraz family:
also "Journey to the Heart of Mont Blanc" a wonderful book devoted
solely to Pierre Tairraz's photos.
I think they're both out of print but a library might be able to get
hold of copies.
> If Pierre tends to include people in most
of
> his shots, then maybe that's just his style, but it's certainly not
the
> style of most landscape photographers.
Agreed - but I find his photos a refeshing and exciting change from
sunsets and reflections and rocks in the foreground and sunrays
through trees, beautiful though they may be.
>
> Anyway, let's not get obsessed with definitions here, who do you
think
> is the best British landscape photographer?
>
Colin Prior.
You need to see his prints or buy his books to appreciate him
properly, not judge him on a few crappy thumbnails on a website.
I find it amazing that in his book "Highland Wilderness" the vast
majority of the panoramas have the same aspect ratio of 3 : 1 and they
all work.
Other photographers of landscapes who will, quite rightly, have their
supporters are:
Gordon Stainforth, John Allen, Martin Moran, Clarrie Pashley, Irvine
Butterfield plus many other walker/mountaineers who carry cameras when
they're out and find themselves in the right place at the
right time.
Books worth looking at, or even owning :
The Magic of the Munros
The Magic of Wester Ross and Skye
Anything by Gordon Stainforth
Tony Simpkins
