I think of it as 'Lochan a Achalaise Syndrome'. This loch is in a stunning location beside the main road that runs towards Fort William just before you get to Glencoe. You can literally pull up at the side of the road, set your tripod up beside the car and shoot the lochan with the mountains beyond. Wonderful images, easy to get.
The same applies to many other iconic landscapes we see duplicated endlessly - even in my portfolio, I have to admit. Stob Dearg. Bamburgh Castle. Glen Etive.
Let's be clear. These landscape views are fabulous, wonderful views. But why do so many landscape photographers only take views that are within a few feet of the car park or roadside? And I am not talking about photographers with disability or the limitations of old age who can't get away from the car - certainly not. This rant is aimed at those of us who still can walk a bit.
Have we become so lazy that we try and convince ourselves that the only views worth shooting have a road running beside them?
Please, please, get some mud on your boots. Make your legs ache. Get out of breath. Take a walk into the hills, around the loch, along the beach and over the dunes, stride off into the woodland.
What you discover is that wonderful iconic views exist beyond the cars reach, and not only in the national parks but in the area where we live.
I have just got a dog. In the last month since getting him I have been taking him for longer and longer walks from our home and have discovered several really lovely scenes I am now waiting for the right light to capture. Just yesterday taking a path new to me through a woodland just a mile and a half from home I came across a winding path through a mass of crystal white wild garlic - breathtaking. I never would have found it from a car.
The image at the top of this page took an hours walk to find, through soaking wet woodland after a nights rain, on getting back to the car I was up to my knees in mud, panting for breath with aching legs but, boy, were the images worth it. The whole woodland to myself and the most stunning bluebell display of my life. I wouldn't have got it if I hadn't been prepared to lose sight of the car.
So, like me, by all means grab images of Stob Dearg and Bamburgh Castle - no landscape portfolio should be without those images. But I urge you to take a leap of faith and strike out with an Ordnance Survey map and discover views of your own. You never know, they may become iconic when others see what you have discovered. But even if they don't, you will have fresh images in your portfolio which draw people to your work as it stands out from the car bound photographers who can't bear to stagger more than a few feet from the tin box.
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