So You Want to Get Started in Landscape Photography

O
n the face of it, landscape photography seems like a pretty straightforward concept. Get a camera, go outside, and point it at stuff. But as with most things in life, it’s never that easy.

In professing an interest in landscape photography, what you are seeking to do is elevate your images from snapshots and into something that has artistic merit. That, at its core, is the step you have to make. For a snapshot you simply point your camera at stuff and take a photo without a great deal of thought going into it. To make a photograph, rather than a snapshot, there has to be intent—a desire to create something that looks interesting and visually pleasing.

Landscape photography, or at least good landscape photography, is harder than taking a snapshot, because it has this artistic intent. This doesn’t mean you have to ruminate on a scene stroking your chin for several hours before taking a single exposure, but it does mean you need to train yourself to work artistically, whether it’s a very deliberate or an almost subconscious process.

And that’s all well and good, Andy, but how do you actually get started? What equipment should you buy? How do you learn to use that equipment? Do you need to be a mountaineer? What should you do with the photos that you take?

Let me answer those questions and offer a few suggestions on how to ease your way into this amazing hobby.