The most powerful tool you have on any photography trip is your imagination. It’s also usually the biggest obstruction. Like any pursuit involving kit, many of us spend the first few years mastering the technical aspects. Here there can often be quick progression and that satisfies our human ‘need to succeed’ but it can also lead to repetition, and conscious craft over-shadowing creative instinct.

Photography in its past was firmly rooted in documenting the scene in front of the lens, be it for historical posterity or factual accuracy, it was about capturing not creating. Nowadays, we can be masters of our own visual destiny, we can create the unseen. Be it through the use of filters, speciality lenses or techniques such as ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) or ME (Multiple Exposures) we can shape time and form, and the possibilities are endless. We can be proactive in sculpting and creating our own visual worlds and scenes.

However, whilst the equipment we use is only limited by our creative boundaries, the use of any technique should only ever be to service the aesthetic goal, it should not dictate it. For this work to be successful it must mean something. That can simply be in pursuit of an aesthetic vision in a single image or as part of a wider story-telling narrative, but it cannot just be a display of technique.

Try to be open minded in breaking your own mould. Use different approaches to the landscape, find one area to visit multiple times in differing conditions. Observe what’s in a location from the widest possible point of view down to the narrowest few centimetres of sand or stone.

Experiment with movement, both of the camera and of yourself. Learn to manipulate time by experimenting with shutter speeds, challenge your own compositional habits, physically touch and feel what the location is all about. Perhaps even read up on the local history be it 100, 1,000 or 1 Million years old – try and understand a location and then create a body of work which means something deeper and connects to it.

The possibilities are endless – go for it!

Many of us have found our movements restricted during 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. From a photography point of view (and whilst keeping a wide berth from the social/political side of things!) I suspect many have felt frustrated that they can’t travel and explore. Strangely, I find that some restrictions can actually help free us up creatively. They could be restrictions of location, of equipment or time. I ran into a very small scale ‘lockdown’ situation myself back in November 2018 whilst bobbing about the South Pacific…

Why Was I There? I was very luck to be asked to fly out to New Zealand and spend 12 days aboard a ship as a visiting photography lecturer and guide. It was a great gig to get and of course it was impossible to say “no” to! I managed to grab 10 days after disembarking to explore the South Island of New Zealand and will be releasing those images in December 2020 (I know, it takes me ages to share stuff!).

However, during the first 12 days of the trip I found myself confined to the cabin onboard. Whilst the ship did head to port every few days we did have an extended period at the beginning of the voyage when it was not possible to dock because of the sea conditions. This happened to coincide with me realising I didn’t have a great stomach for sea sailing but you know, you’ve just got to get on with it!

Stuck Onboard! As someone who prefers to roam alone with their camera I found being stuck onboard slightly disconcerting, BUT in some ways it was a very liberating time creatively. When you are restricted to your onboard surroundings the trick is to try and be visually receptive to what’s around you. The deep blue of the sea & sky contrasted against the bright whites of the Ship made for some interesting black & white treatment.

Any of you who’ve seen me talk or been on a workshop with me will also know how I love to shoot in little series and projects. This is something I put into practice at the location, during the edit and in the final presentation. With my camera set to black & white mode the above images are very close to what I was shooting at the time, this is vital if you’re trying to pull together aesthetically consistent and coherent sets when on location.

Advice for restrictions? My advice to anyone with a restriction on their travel or kit is to embrace it! I sometimes ‘make’ people stick to one fixed lens or focal length when on tours with me so they can really start to see in that length. We all walk around with too many options, both in terms of kit and locations, and in my experience we’re often blinded by choice.

Start small, perhaps in your garden or local woodland/beach if you’re lucky enough to be near one. Take one camera, one lens, and fix your focal length. Then make repeat visits to that location many times in various conditions and you’ll start to ‘see’ images in that focal length, and you’ll also start to appreciate the subtleties of that location. Hopefully then you’ll also start to make great images.