Intimate Landscapes

What a wonderful reminder that you do not need to photograph the whole forest to capture the landscape!

A last-minute change of plan meant Tony Worobiec FRPS joined us via Zoom for The Intimate Landscape, taking us away from sweeping views and distant horizons and encouraging us instead to look a little closer.

Throughout the evening, Tony showed how lines, tone, colour, pattern and light can transform even the smallest part of a landscape into an image of its own. From rock formations and woodland details to frost, ice, reflections and even the humble wild carrot, there are photographs everywhere once we start looking for them.

We explored simplicity and abstraction, compressing patterns with a long lens, controlled depth of field and multiple exposure, as well as the way changing weather and light can transform an ordinary scene. Tony also introduced us to the idea of finding “chaotic beauty” — discovering order and interest within a busy landscape.

It was inspiring to see familiar subjects such as woodland and bluebells approached in a completely different way, and to be reminded not to overlook the obvious. Sometimes it is simply a case of looking down instead of towards the horizon — or looking up to discover a beautiful contrast of colour above us.

A huge thank you to Tony for joining us and so generously sharing his photography, ideas and enthusiasm. Despite the last-minute change of plans, we had a thoroughly inspiring evening and perhaps a few of us will now be wandering through the landscape looking at the smaller details a little differently.