Why Landscape Photography? The Question That Changes How You Work

Why Landscape Photography? The Question That Changes How You Work

There’s a question I’ve been asked maybe twice in twenty years of doing this professionally, and both times it stopped me cold. Not “how do you make money at it” or “what camera do you use,” but the simpler, harder one: why landscapes? Most people who learn what I do for a living nod politely and move on. The ones who ask that follow-up question are the ones who make me think for days.

See What Others Miss: A Landscape Photographer's Guide to Intimate Landscape Photography

See What Others Miss: A Landscape Photographer's Guide to Intimate Landscape Photography

There’s a particular kind of creative rut that’s easy to fall into as a landscape photographer, and I say that as someone who’s been doing this full time for two decades. You drive to a famous location, you set up where everyone else sets up, and you come home with a perfectly competent image that looks almost identical to the top result on a Google image search. The shot is technically fine.