www.photographymonthly.com56 PHOTOGRAPHY MONTHLY
erhaps it's inevitable that
landscape photography is
beset on all sides by rules,
formulae and nuggets of
received wisdom. It's only
human to seek out
definitions of `success', but
to apply rules and formulae
slavishly in an area as
elusive and potentially creative as photography
is to wear a straitjacket likely to lead to
repetitive and boring work. This month I want
to look at some of these rules or `myths', and
describe how successful photographers often
break them.
The first is (surprise surprise), equipment.
The prevailing wisdom goes that we need the
latest and greatest gear.In landscape
especially, where resolution and fine detail are
at a premium, high performance cameras
would appear to be essential, and � as the
manufacturers are naturally very fond of telling
us � their latest offerings have more pixels
than ever before.
But some of our best-known, most admired
landscapers use relatively ancient equipment �
John Blakemore is renowned for using a 5x4in
(large-format) MPP press camera. It has had a
cracked ground glass screen for years, but that
doesn't stop John creating masterpieces with
it. Thomas Joshua Cooper uses a 5x7in plate
camera from the 1950s. Bill Schwab has a
1932 10x8in Deardorff that's seen better days;
he makes amazing wet plate collodion prints
with it. Lee Frost does some of his finest work
with a plastic Holga camera. For his personal
work Steve Gosling uses a pinhole camera.
And Charlie Waite's current camera of choice
is a 6x9cm Mamiya Press, probably made in
the late 1960s. It's not that modern cameras
aren't good for landscapes, it's just that the
most important thing is to know your
equipment so well you can forget about it and
concentrate on your picture-making instead.
The second myth is about location.
`Location, location, location' may be the first
rule of the house buyer,but it's also the
mantra of many aspirant landscape
photographers. Seeing the spectacular work of
some of my contemporaries from overseas
would seem to suggest that without access to
the rim of the Grand Canyon, or a viewpoint
PPROFILE
Although now best
known for his
landscapes and work
with the National
Trust, Joe Cornish
was heading for a career in
mainstream commercial
photography when a chance
meeting with Charlie Waite changed
his mind. Joe has since devoted
himself to landscape photography.
Kit used
Ebony 45SU 4x5in field camera,
Horseman SWD, Phase One P45+,
Hasselblad 503CW,Nikon D700, Ricoh
Caplio GX100, Panasonic Lumix LX3
[Expert advice]
"Some of our best-known,
most admired landscapers use
relatively ancientequipment
"
over Indonesian volcanoes, or Torres Del Paine
in Chile then there's not much incentive to
make photographs. I exaggerate for effect of
course, but I know from conversations with
some landscape enthusiasts that they only
PREVIOUSPAGESIt's a myth
that you should only shoot at
dawn and dusk � especially
with greens as clean and
vibrantas this at Malham
Cove, view to the south-east.
RIGHT This image of `Red
leaves,frost' was taken in
Joe'sgarden:proof you don't
need to travel the world for
great pictures.Made with an
Ebony 45SU and Rodenstock
Macro Sirona 120mm lens
wide open, the image also
proves you don't need to
shoot the grand vista all the
time: detailswork too.

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