Historic? Really? Allow me to justify. Although 2021 is the inaugural year, the Natural Landscape Photography Awards have established a reputation in the landscape photography community as a fortress against the powerful influences of social media on the landscape. art figure.
Their recently published award book. better described as a well curated, carefully curated collection of art prints and essays, is equally commendable. Featuring images, essays and thoughts from each of the 2021 judges, which is a strong roster of respected artists, this is more than just a contest award book. It’s a must-have memento for the collection of any nature photographer who enjoys tracking the state of the art.
Not only does the book contain some of the best photographs created by this generation of landscape photographers, but it also represents a turning point for a rapidly growing movement towards a natural post-processing approach. more natural in the art of landscape photography. Not to mention, the book is just gorgeous. It is clear that a great deal of care and consideration was put into the publishing process. While the prices are surprisingly affordable, both the cover and photo prints are of the highest quality. This is a heavy collection of photographs and essays, hardly ever providing an overview of the history of this “nature photography” movement.
Despite all my efforts, it should be stated that I am not affiliated with the contest, nor a sponsored or advertised article. This is merely an attempt by a passionate photographer to spread the word about this amazing collection of photos, about the exciting new contest, and most importantly, about the movement back into appreciation. Nature as the first and foremost driving force in landscape photography. Check it out on NLPA websiteAnd if you feel inspired and inclined to do so, order a copy!
So what is all this about a movement? With the advent of several popular photo-focused social media platforms, there has been an overwhelming movement towards the kind of landscape photos that will catch the eye of the viewer as they scroll across a mobile phone screen. This has generally translated into a greater reliance on saturation, contrast, photo manipulation techniques, etc. It has also shifted the motivation of the casual landscape photographer away from showing off the beauty. of pure nature and geared towards motives for likes, followers and clothes. The public facing aspect of social media suddenly provides the reach needed to make the dream of “becoming” a photographer within the reach of many talented photographers. But this obvious benefit to the community has come at a heavy price for the art form.
Many photographers have grown tired of the visual style that has become so popular as a result of social media. Many in the community miss the direct connection with the inherent beauty of nature without ever needing such drastic improvements to be appreciated. As a result, there has been a reactionary movement back to the “nature first” approach to landscape photography, where the photographer seeks to express the beauty of nature rather than obscure it with motivation towards self-aggravation.
The Natural Landscape Photography Awards, set for 2021, are unlikely to appear, but the competition’s immediate success is direct evidence of this burgeoning movement. The founders, Tim Parkin, Matt Payne, Rajesh Jyothiswaran and Alex Nail, didn’t just want to create another photo contest to supplement their own source of income. They wanted to create a place to introduce the community to the best “natural” landscape photos at this time. This contest achieves this by limiting post-processing techniques to a few simple guidelines to ensure that each image is “real” and represents the inherent beauty of nature.
In one of the book’s excellent essays, Tim Parkin (co-founder) contributed the following:
I often write about the problems of photography contests: the fact that they reduce the creative and personal art to a simple “this > that” equation. It’s easy to look at the winners and determine how helpful the contest was to them… but how helpful is it to everyone else? For all their questions, I feel that well-organized art competitions provide a useful service to artists. The results can show the public the diversity of talented amateur and professional artists around the world. Our idea at the start of the Natural Landscape Photography Awards was to create such a service only for photographers working in a style that would be underrepresented otherwise, and after noticing the reaction in community, I think that’s what many of you want. also.
I believe they have accomplished exactly what they set out to do, to create a gathering place for the community to come together and exchange our work and ideas in a way that is mutually beneficial, and in a In a way, it’s elevating the art of landscape photography to exciting new heights. If this is good news for you, be sure read book and consider ordering a copy, and stay tuned for the upcoming 2022 contest prizes on November 15.
All images are allowed to use.
