The Expressive Landscape - Part 1 - Listening to the landscape

In this latest part off my creativity training course, I explore how the landscape talks to us, whether we choose to listen or not. Using various examples, I show how adding elements to simple frames builds dynamics and visual relationships.
Understanding the emotional impact of these dynamics is critical, and learning to feel the landscape should be a baseline response for landscape photographers.
Drone, Video and Stills by Alister Benn
Music by www.bensound.com

[@BentRasmussen]

Best landscape photography channel I’ve seen on YT. Much more in-depth and reflective than other channels.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thank you so much 😀 this means a lot to me, and is very encouraging.

[@chachacha4]

Great video! Looking forward to the rest of the videos. This insightful content is outstanding. I will need to watch again and study carefully. Thanks !

[@Alister_Benn]

Awesome, thank you! really appreciated.

[@MarkRomine]

I’m guilty as described, “Letting go of Judgement”. Thanks for sharing your thought process.

[@andrewCraven1]

Excellent video and important learning for me thanks Alister

[@Alister_Benn]

Andrew Craven delighted to hear that, many thanks.

[@GuyRaymond_GR]

I'm new to your channel and just felt in love your work and your philosophy. I'm also a great fan of Adam Gibbs and went to Tonquin Valley with him in 2018. Please continue to inspire us!

[@Alister_Benn]

Thank you so much, that is really appreciated. Adam and I are great friends and we’re looking forward to running workshops together this autumn in Spain and Scotland.

[@lisawatson8474]

I wish I had this attitude in my mind when I went to Canada a couple of years ago. We arrived in Vancouver in the midst of one of the biggest bush fire events to happen in Canada for many years. I had had great expectations of taking wonderful photos of the Rocky Mountains especially around Lake Louise, Banff, Jasper etc. Instead we had 500m vision and smoke!! To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I felt completely deflated and lost my enthusiasm for the landscapes (that I couldn't see). What I should have done, watching this, was to try and engage in what I could see and wrap myself up in that. After watching this, that is exactly what I aim to do from now on and try not to EXPECT the landscape to give me photographs. Thanks Alister for reminding me not to be such a princess!!

[@Alister_Benn]

Oh absolutely. I saw so many great images by friends of mine over there during that time. Shocking, but ethereal and beautiful too.

[@rosaliebischof1171]

New subscriber here. Really liking your approach about just being in the landscape without any expectations!

[@Alister_Benn]

Very happy to hear that. I always say on workshops, "expectations will kill you're creativity faster than anything else"

[@nickshepherd8377]

Just brilliant!

[@matteobresciani4070]

I literally love you approach to photography! The concept of 'feeling' a landscape is something that we are losing as human due to the new tecnhologies and the thousand of identical images that we see daily on social media. But if we take our time to live the landscape, and enjoy it entirly. Then we are able to communicate and express those feeling through our photos, and that's what photography is about, for me at least. Thank you for your video and this wonderful point of view on photography.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks so much, that's lovely feedback. It means a lot to me when I hear the content is resonating with other people.

[@gingerspoons6078]

Great 👍

[@Alister_Benn]

Many thanks for that

[@timmahaffey4895]

New addition to my bucket list - attend Allister Benn workshop in Scotland...(and of course visit Culloden and other sites from the Outlander TV show😀.) Instead of “what’s in my bag” that others do I’m interested in “what’s in your library”. In all seriousness, your content is so helpful to me...your channel and Ted Forbes are my two go to channels for learning this art form. Thank you!

[@Alister_Benn]

Hi Tim, thank you so much. My brother lives in Culloden and I’ve never been to the battlefield! That was the end of Scotland in many ways. For now 😀🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 thanks again, we love making the content and are pleased that it is welcome.

[@AlanBrownPhotography]

Another great video Alister - can't wait to see more here/on Fstoppers!

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks Alan. Loads more content coming every week on here and Fstoppers. Being holed up at home has that advantage! Although I should be in Northern Spain now running a workshop!

[@mikehirst3294]

I just ran on to your channel at the suggestion of Adam Gibbs. Your fresh approach excites me and I am looking forward to more.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for that, really appreciate that. Yes, I think Adam and I have a complimentary approach, where the landscape and our relationship with it are more important than the final images (a close second) :-)

[@tauernphotos]

I really appreciate your approach on photography. There are very few out there which can explain it with such depth and it’s a real pleasure to follow your work! I hope you’ll reach a big audience here with your channel as well. Although I would describe myself as an experienced photographer your work never stops to inspire.

[@Alister_Benn]

Daniel Egger thanks very much for that, it’s very encouraging

[@terrytracey5378]

i was giving up on KZbin until i came across your channel Alister, brilliant stuff without all the bulls***. I am very passionate about photography but i don't call myself a photographer yet, I have not earned that right in my own eyes. But i hear your photography language and look forward to the next videos

[@Alister_Benn]

Terry Tracey that is incredibly kind of you and so great to hear. I obviously have a passion for cutting through the rubbish that is talked and written about our development as photographers. Essentially it’s our life meeting technique. One we can learn, the other is a completely personal and unique expression of our existence. Blank page, table two :-)

[@Mrmelody85]

I couldn't believe it when I saw the thumbnail of this video: Playa de Buelna near Llanes. Portizuelo and Aguilar too! I've been living in Gijón for the last ten years but only got into landscape photography seriously over the last few months and have recently visited all of these places! Such a shame I missed you, I'd love to enrol in one of your workshops!

[@Mrmelody85]

Did you go to Playa Gueirua too? Such a dramatic beach!

[@Alister_Benn]

Hey, thanks for that. I lived in Luarca for a year, so know that coast pretty well. All our workshops there this year have been cancelled of course, but I'll be back next year as soon as I can manage.

[@Alister_Benn]

Of corse :-) It's on the cover of my Night Photography eBook and has featured in a few of my videos on here.

[@hansernst5998]

Your approach to landscape photography is fantastic, I was hooked from the beginning till the end of the video. For the first time I have seen creativity in photography explained the way it should be. Really looking forward to the next episode, many thanks

[@Alister_Benn]

Hans Ernst I really appreciate your comment, I always hoped there was a hunger for a more holistic innate approach to our art. Thanks so much for your feedback.

[@thejoyfultripod]

I'm very pleased to have found your channel. I probably watch too many KZbin photography videos, and am feeling unsatisfied by the usual focus on 'leading lines' & 'foreground interest'. Your approach is refreshing, inspiring, and much more philosophical. Also appreciated the Rush lyrics in this one too . . . . . Many thanks and I hope you will continue to produce similar stuff!

[@Alister_Benn]

More Rush lyrics 🤔 thanks for your encouragement, I’m striving to challenge the status quo of trad teaching. There’s more to photography than ancient rules!!

[@scotthumphrey4624]

You speak my language Ben. Let it flow.

[@Alister_Benn]

Scott Allan that’s very kind thank you

[@johannesp1422]

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts en vision with us, Alister. It's really very inspirational for me. I like it very much !

[@Alister_Benn]

Johan Pannekoek and thank you for your very kind feedback. I’m starting work on Part 2 today, as I’ve been laid out sick this past week. Better now...

[@1973Antoniob]

Thank you very much, the best series of video for a landscapes photographer and for to be a best landscapes photographer :-). I'm looking forward for the next video .

[@Alister_Benn]

That's very kind Antonio, I'm very grateful.

[@renagoodfriend-leve9443]

Brilliant images and explanation of how we as emotional dynamic beings influence how and what and why we see in this amazing universe we inhabit .I love your notion of "how the landscape makes us feel " and how we feel influences what we see. Bravo!

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, that was a profound realisation for me: the fact I'm not creatively constant. If our creative awareness isn't constant, how can it be explained using rules?

[@melissahall7009]

love it. thank you for the inspiration!!

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks so much, very much appreciated

[@josefernandezgarcia9146]

Many thanks for your time ... great videos

[@Alister_Benn]

You're so welcome Pepe...

[@IanMiddletonPhotographyTravel]

Beautiful images and a great explanation. Thanks very much.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks Ian, I'm enjoying making them.

[@Sir_Grumpalot]

Excellent bit of work. Showing the progression from ultra simple to increasingly dynamic by gradually adding elements is a powerful way to explain how a landscape image can work. Similarly with the subtle contrast between straight lines and curves. Looking forward to part two and I shall store this in my library for future review. As an aside the images of, what I presume is, the Gobi Desert are wonderful.

[@Alister_Benn]

Martin Heathcote many thanks for your comment, very much appreciated feedback. I am absolutely determined to get past this lowest common denominator teaching of landscape photography. I’m not convinced that rules, guidelines and generalisations are at all helpful. Thanks again for your support.

[@Alister_Benn]

And yes, the Desert images are from the Gobi. Amazing place.

[@mikehirst3294]

Martin Heathcot

[@davidvabborrazas6793]

Great video, thanks, love the final part.

[@Alister_Benn]

Davidvab Borrazas I’m delighted to hear you made it to the end :-)

[@davidvabborrazas6793]

@@Alister_Benn 😊

[@hixxy71]

Outstanding content, wonderful pictures. Please keep up your excellent work (and videos.. ;-) Cheers Reto

[@Alister_Benn]

hixxy71 many thanks, I’m super encouraged by all the positive feedback.

[@dwrisdon2487]

So I am catching up on videos as I am a somewhat new subscriber. I can totally grasp that a capture (sketch) is an expression of your emotions at that time. But so is the time, generally somewhat later, that you spend in "post." And then what about when you look at the product later? And so on. How do you treat this moving emotionalism or do you just lock it down at the time and move on?

[@Alister_Benn]

Wow, old video. The two phases of in the field and in front of the computer are very different (for me) i love my time in the field. Processing tends to lock in who I am and how I feel on the day I process. There is no perfect version of an image, just one that says what you want to say on the day

[@tomfoord8860]

Your remarks remind me of the saying ”wherever you go, there you are.”

[@Alister_Benn]

Absolutely. It's no coincidence that remarks like this have become carved in the stones of time! They may sound cheesy, but they're certainly profound.

[@valentingonzalez4813]

Very instructive. I can see that some of your pictures had been taken along the incredible coast of Asturias, north of Spain. Perhaps you can enjoy some of the images in here: www.valentinfotografo.com/blog/el-viejo-nuevo-libro-the-old-new-book/ Have a nice day.