Chasing the Light (DVD)

David Noton is one of my favourite landscape photographers. It's not just because of the wonderful, serene photographs but because he opens up the world of a professional landscape photographer in his column for Practical Photography. That's why I was eager to watch his DVD, Chasing the Light, which shows his approach to landscape photography.



Now, the first thing you need to know about the DVD is that David is not a natural TV personality. The presentation style is fairly natural, honest and down-to-earth — pretty much like the man himself — but don't expect the flawless scripted style of a TV presenter. There are occasional hesitations etc but it doesn't detract at all from the content.

The DVD is split into a number of different sections but it's filmed entirely on-location so you can see how he finds a so-so location, envisages what it might look like in different conditions, and then wait it out with him until he captures a stunning shot. This is David's philosophy: find somewhere interesting, imagine (pre-visualise) what it will look like is different conditions, plan, return, shoot. He firmly believes that most of the work of the photographer is done before he touches the camera. There's a little talk about apertures, shutter speeds and white balance but technique is not what he's really teaching. It's really a motivational video for going beyond the point-and-shoot style of photography. Instead of simply settling for whatever scene we come across, we should be planning a particular shot, in particular light, and then waiting it out.

After taking on-board what I learnt from this DVD I went out and shot an amazing panoramic photo just by following his philosophy. I thought of an image I wanted to capture (a mountain ridge with the turf cut out of the bog, highlighted by the setting sun). I thought of a location which I knew but hadn't shot before. I studied the map, checked the time and position of sunset, and set off on a recce as the grey clouds rolled in. This was the location:

As I was scouting out the place, I noticed that the sun was just appearing underneath the clouds. And within a few minutes lovely golden light flooded across my scene. I hastily setup the tripod and snapped away for 5 minutes before the sun sank beneath the mountains.

I'll be returning in September when I expect the sun to set in a better position and I'll have found a more interesting location.

Although it's a touch expensive, I'd recommend this DVD to any budding photographer as it shows just what shots are out there for the taking with a little forethought and patience. Sample clips are available from David's site.

Oh, and my latest photographic kit is my cheapest: a small tripod stool — I reckon I'll be waiting for the light a lot more often now :-)