Scenics too benefitted as well from the knowledge of perspective and compositions gained by this formative ‘studio work’. I am a fan of early B&W pictorialists like William Mortensen, Wallace Nutting and Fred Thompson. Busy studio operations sent photographers far and wide to capture photographically the environments and architecture of places with atmosphere, water, times of day and landscape. Before selling and distributing these were collected, edited, titled, mass produced, printed and then colorized at the studio by the score.
Within the category of scenic landscape photography it is fun to imagine and remember that all art borrows from its predecessors. This is a good and relevant history. Basics of composition, lighting, rules of thirds are happily and traditionally the tools available to photographers even to this day.
When working on scenic landscapes there are a lot of other details involved- maps, travel, time, destinations, vehicles, provisions and gear and even more gear. Hear about it. Find it on the GPS, think about it, and get out there with some atmosphere and magic light – and don’t run out of film!
