Walking with Giants

"If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die.

Let them say I lived in the time of Hector tamer of horses. Let them say, I lived in the time of Achilles." - Odysseus

I wanted to say a little something about inspiration.

This new journey I've found myself on brings me a tremendous amount of piece and satisfaction - whether I'm creating a half decent shot or not. I take comfort in the solitude landscape photography offers and in the chance it provides to reset the clock each time I go out. However, I'm well aware that any new venture cannot be embarked on blindly. Around a year ago I started following a few photographers on YouTube, not necessarily to pick up tips and advice, but more so to inquisitively observe their journeys. Most of them seem to have done something different prior to photography, all of different ages, nationalities and backgrounds, and each at different stages of their new profession. That rang true with me, made me think - 'do you know what...' if they can do it I can at least try. It would be very easy to discuss the greats like Colin Prior, Ansel Adams or Takeshi Mizukoshi - deities of the art, but to me the following people are becoming giants of their time.

The first I'd like to share with you is Morten Hilmer - A Danish wildlife & landscape photographer who after serving in the Danish military special forces, spent two further years in the northern parts of Greenland, meeting the local people and working on photography projects. I love his passionate fascination for nature, curiosity and empathy for other cultures and wildlife that sees him visiting many remote regions across the world. His YouTube videos are fascinating, simple and offer a beautiful insight to the landscapes and nature around us. Morten has a huge following online, he's a very endearing character who focuses more on sharing the experience of his surroundings and the wildlife, and doesn't bombard his audience with jargon or equipment spec. Here is a link to a video of his from Scotland; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqoDv7ovH0k

Next is Thomas Heaton, who I find hugely encouraging. Thomas is an English landscape, travel and outdoor photographer, who is quickly becoming one of the best in his field. He shoots an amazing variety of landscape styles and has a very active YouTube channel, sharing inspiring videos about the art and craft of landscape photography. What I like about his content is the calm, passive nature of his delivery. His process for shooting is genuinely captivating - from the carefully selected compositions to his expertly considered use of equipment and post-processing. Thomas is widely regarded as one of the most influential landscape photographers of our generation, and for me, personally, his journey is the one I can relate to the most. Videos of his trips to Patagonia & Iceland, in particular, are captivating and the shots are just exquisite. See one of his Patagonia visits here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttFMZnk7NvI

Lastly, for now, and quite a bit different those I've mentioned so far, are a couple of Australian lads who, in my opinion, have the whole 'influencer' and online thing 'down to a T'. Mike (North Borders) and Liam (7thEra) are Melbourne based photographers and YouTubers with a huge following, also on Instagram, and are some of the most talented creatives I've seen. Their video adventures are loads of fun, informative and are complemented by their friendships with each other and the other guys in their bunch - Hayden Pedersen & Limon. Not shy to try out new techniques or experiment with new photo-technology there's an energy around their individual and collaborative work that takes me back to the fun I had working alongside my amazingly talented friends and lecturers at Art School years ago. Some say 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks' but I'd disagree. I'm learning so much from these guys. In particular their skills in Lightroom, which are fabulous and the step-by-step post-process tutorials are great. More valuable than that, however, is the encouragement they give to their followers - always honest, helpful and never patronising. Their integrity and devotion to what they are doing is beyond doubt. Give them a 'like and follow'; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC98tTHNBtg

There are many, many others I could mention, for many different reasons, but I'll leave that to another day.

As I continue to learn, and my own journey progresses, I find these people, unknowingly, walking alongside me. Carefully, but with growing confidence, I follow a path between them hoping to one day break off in my own direction.

'Giants' indeed.

JP