Intimate LandScapes
Ken Scott ARPS APAGB MBPsS
I am an experiential photographer, an observational photographer. I see photography as an extension to living, not necessarily as a thing in itself. None of my images is preconceived or planned; rather my approach is to tune into the moment, to be open to whatever comes, to receive and to make images, not to ‘take’ them.
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What attracts me to Intimate landscapes?
Scenic landscape photography is largely about place; hence the draw for photographers to flock to iconic locations. I have rarely, if ever, been to a place to make photographs; instead I allow myself to experience the landscape fully and deeply, and then photographs follow naturally.
When I look back at even my earliest mountain ‘landscape’ work, I can see that many images don’t conform to the idea of a ‘view’. I was attracted by light, and light often ‘happened’ in small parts of the wider landscape. So I often isolated light, abstracting the landscape to moments rather than places. Even wider landscape scenes can be intimate in that sense.
Many of my favourite landscapes have been in places where nobody goes. The intimate scape is the result of my deeper experience with the land. It is often spontaneous; almost never preconceived. It gives a sense of place, my sense of place. The intimate scape celebrates that we all see uniquely.
I see intimate scapes everywhere from the mountains to the sea, in urban corners and around the home. I’m particularly attracted to leaves and grasses, influenced by Japanese master Shinzo Maeda.
Gallery of some Intimate Scapes by Ken (Click for full size)
A tip from Ken....
My approach to photography is very simple; it is about experiencing, feeling, sensing; immersing myself in and responding to, whatever environment I find myself in.
One of the biggest barriers to seeing is to go out with expectation; especially a hope that the light will be just so. Expectation breeds only disappointment. Instead, be in the moment. When we let ourselves appreciate just how it is, right here and now, then we open ourselves up to see.
I have a couple of mantras that I repeat frequently to myself:
• “Love the light you have” – when we get in touch with our feelings and let ourselves love the mist and the dreich and the cold and the grey as much as we love the golden hour, then we can fill our photographs with feeling, whatever the light.
• “The harder I look, the less I see” – it’s when we stop looking for (things) and let ourselves BE fully in the landscape, seeing without judgement, that we begin to see with more acuity.
About Ken....
I have been making photographs since the late 1970s. My work grew up in the mountains with natural light and landscape, because adventure was and still is my passion; the best photography comes from the heart.
Whilst my photographic soul still resides in the mountains, in recent times I have transformed my work into a daily flow of fleeting moments and deeper insights; fifteen consecutive years of making images every day – nearly 5500 consecutive days. There are pictures in everything.
I work professionally as a coach and workshop leader for photographers (as well as in business and in sport). I specialise in the practice of Mindfulness in photography, running photography retreats in Spain and France called “The Joy of Seeing" – about being ‘in the moment’, expanding our seeing and photographing the world around us without judgement.
You will find me giving regular talks and presentations to camera clubs and outdoor organisations throughout the UK, and for many years I have been an appraiser (I like the word ‘judge’ less every time I hear it) on the club circuit. I have developed and coordinated the training for ‘judges’ in the Southern Counties Photographic Federation for a dozen years now, with the strong conviction that we need to do it differently, not just better.
I am proud to be an Honorary Lifetime Member and currently Hon. President of Steyning Camera Club in West Sussex.
As to my equipment, well, let me put it this way: when was the last time you asked about the baker's oven after eating a pie?
Ken, August 2022
The content and images on this page are the copyright of Ken Scott