By Robert M. Teague
Occasionally, a
photography book comes along that makes you think about the photographic process from a more than a simple "rule of thirds" perspective.
"Landscape Beyond - A Journey into Photograph" by David Ward is such a book. This book challenges our viewpoints and our thought
processes about landscape photography, while guiding us towards becoming better photographers. Those who consider color landscape photography to be
simply "colorful calendar art" would be well advised not to read this book, as it may challenge their core beliefs behind this view. This
is not to say that this book does not contain some outstanding examples of color landscape photography; it does. But, it does so, in the context of
three essays, which are written in such a way as to give the reader pause to think about their craft. Let's delve into this book a little deeper and
see why I feel it holds so much importance for those who love color landscape photography.
The book is broken down into three basic essays; Simplicity, A Sense of Mystery and A Return to Beauty, followed by a
section titled Questions or Answers? In the first three essays, David concentrates on the content of a photography, while the forth
revolves around "why" we take photographs.
Simplicity
Every landscape photographer makes choices about the complexity of their photographs, through the process of simplification; a process that goes
on in our thoughts as we photograph, often without us realizing it. In this essay, David contrasts the simple with the complex, why it is sometimes
looked upon in a pejorative way, and how we can use simplicity to transform the complex subject matters that landscape photographers are often
presented with into a pleasing composition.
A Sense of Mystery
How many times have we looked at a book or magazine full of photographs, only to forget what we saw once we put it down? How does a photograph
stand out when we are continually bombarded by images from every side, every day? In this essay, author David Ward takes us on a journey to discover
the element.
Too much emphasis is often placed on the recording power of photography; a power that can produce results that fail to stir the emotion by its
nature. Through a lack of emotion, a photograph will fail to 'lock' itself into our memories, and we forget what the photograph we just looked at.
David shows us that adding a sense of mystery to our photographs can defeat the inherent limitations of photography. He does this through the use of
compositional techniques like scale, spatial ambiguity (a suggestion of something other than what was photographed), lighting, and incongruity (What
are those men doing with a canoe on a glacier?). Techniques that we, as landscape photographers, can use to make our photographs more memorable.
A Return to Beauty
Most landscape photographers begin with a love, and sense of wonder, for our subject - the land. As David writes "my sense of wonder as
I walked the hills and mountains of Britain led me to want to record their beauty, and photography seemed to me the most appropriate
tool". It is that sense of wonder, that 'Eureka!' moment that motivates us from one click of the shutter to the next, as it has author
David Ward these many years. The sense of wonder is inspired by the drive for beauty; a drive that is universal in appeal, a quality that all humans
recognize.
Throughout this section, David shows us how the modern art establishment abhors beauty in art, when in fact, it is beauty that drives our
emotions. As he points out "As beauty has such a strong appeal is it not likely that some universal and fundamental response underlies our
experience of it?" For those who love landscape photography, clearly it does.
Questions or Answers?
Finally, the question comes "Why do we photograph?" Do we simply copy the work of those who have come before us, hoping for equally
beautiful work, or as a way of exploring the photographic possibilities for ourselves, or do we genuinely fell there is something new that will be
reveled to us? The answer to these questions may point us to the answer of "why", which in turn, will lead us to being better landscape
photographers. It is this realization that may have led David to write "Although I have taken images since 1979 I don't feel that
I became a photographer until 1999. I attribute this change in status, this graduation, to changing from being a 'taker' to a 'maker'."
Perhaps, that is our key as well.
The Photographs
The books philosophical discussion of the photographic process doesn't mean the books is devoid of photographs. In fact, the book is lavishly
illustrated, with the majority of the photographs being full page sized. All of the photographs were taken on Fuji Velvia 50 transparency film, on a
large format camera (4"x5"), using a variety of lenses.
The majority of the photographs are not the grand landscape style, as popularized by photographers like David Muench, rather they are more of an
intimate style of landscape, reminiscent of Eliot Porter. Having been a fan of David's work for sometime, I can attest that he is a master at either
style, but he seems more comfortable with the later.
About the Author
David Ward is one of the leading landscape photographers in the United Kingdom today; a photographer who primarily works with the Large Format
camera in color.
