My second blog post was originally a discussion of one way to overcome photographic boredom, or being stuck in a rut, by getting out and exploring someplace new. Just as I was wrapping that up, the world changed for all of us. So a blog post encouraging people to get out and explore new places didn’t seem appropriate for these crazy times. I’ll post that at some point down the road because after being stuck inside or within the confines of our neighborhoods for so long, we’ll all be itching to get out and explore.

EUREKA!

So I wasn’t sure what to do for my second post. Over the last couple of weeks my time has been spent binging television shows, reading, trying to keep up exercise habits, and watching an absolute ton of You Tube videos, many of which were produced by photographers I’ve chosen to follow. Finally, after way too long, it hit me: write up a post about that!

LET’S GO YOU TUBING

If you’re a landscape photographer - brand new or old hand - sooner or later you’re going to land on the internet searching for something photography related. It might be a processing issue you’re struggling with, a gear review, a hunt for places to photograph near or far, a search for workshops. Doesn’t matter. If you find yourself on the internet looking for any of those things, you’re going to run across an absolutely mind-boggling number of YouTube channels produced and hosted by landscape photographers and educators. You can kill hours watching these things; I know because I’ve done it.

There’s a ridiculous wealth of information out there. You’ll watch a video on exposure blending and think, “Wow, that’s cool!.” So you’ll watch another one. And then another. And another. Before you realize it your wife is suggesting it’s time to eat and you’ve not done anything but watch videos all day. It can be embarrassing. It can also be extremely helpful. I wouldn’t be where I am today were it not for the people I’m about to introduce. Search for them on YouTube, or check out their websites; I’ve provided links to both their sites and channels.

Full disclosure: I’ve purchased courses and products from some of these folks, so I may be a little biased. Nonetheless, if you’ve not already run across these guys (and it’s interesting they’re all guys; I obviously need to get some more diverse viewpoints) they’re worth checking out. I’m listing them in alphabetical order.

THE DREAM TEAMERS

Nigel Danson (Nigel’s Channel) - I discovered Nigel courtesy of Nick Page (listed further below); I saw him interviewed on Nick’s Landscape Photography podcast, and he was such a nice, interesting character, I had to check him out. Nigel is a UK guy with a fantastic accent and one of the best photography dogs out there: Pebbles, a star in her own right. Nigel’s videos run the gamut, from walking you through his process while in the field (hopefully I’m not the only one who finds this fascinating), to how he processes, and how he prints. You can find a few thoughtful gear reviews and he’ll even show you how and what he packs when he’s traveling. Nigel’s images are amazing; they’re full of gorgeous light, great skies (he must be one of the most patient guys out there to wait for these views), and wonderful compositions They’re almost painterly. I do wish Nigel, who would appear to be modest in the extreme, would show more of his work on his website. And more slo-mo footage of Pebbles is always welcome.

Mark Denney (Mark’s Channel) - Mark was an instructor at the Out of Oregon conference I attended last October. I wasn’t familiar with him before arriving but now I really look forward to his weekly video upload. I don’t know what he did before going full time as a photographer; he is so calm and even keeled that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’d been a psychiatrist in a previous life. Mark was there for one of the evening excursions I went on and one of my enduring memories of that week was standing almost ankle-deep in the ocean, as the tide slid in and out providing these amazing blurred leading lines of sea foam, and just laughing at how great it was, and hearing the person next to me laughing the same way. It was Mark Denney, enjoying the moment every bit as much as I was, proving that a professional gets just as giddy as an amateur. Mark’s got to have one of the coolest offices of all these photographers, and it’s almost a game to see just where that little potted plant will turn up and if the Rubik’s Cube will make an appearance. His videos tend to fall into the “5 Tips to…”. “Top 10 Essentials for…”, or “9 Key Shortcuts…” type, which is usually kind of cliche, but with his earnest, soft-spoken, and sincere manner, Mark absolutely pulls it off. It’s highly unusual not to get at least some tidbit out of his videos.

Adam Gibbs (Adam’s Channel) - I’ve seen Adam, who lives near Vancouver, Canada, featured in the videos of other photographers, sometimes in comical fashion as Mr. Grumpy, a persona he occasionally adopts when working with Gavin Hardcastle (see below). So I was surprised to find his own videos quite thoughtful, soothing even, and quietly powerful in the way he features his images and puts them to music. He offers a plethora of thoughts on composition, starting with the challenges faced in the field trying to get them, then walking you through the decisions he considers and discards, showing you why he does what he does, going into a lot of detail on the choices he makes, then showing you the final image. His images are not just landscapes but moodscapes, reflecting a powerful simplicity combined with amazing light and color; like Nigel’s they’re almost like paintings. Not sure how old Adam is, but it’s nice to see somebody else do the dance between putting the glasses on and pulling them off to review results on the LCD screen.

Gavin Hardcastle (Gavin’s Channel) - I can’t recall how I ran across Gavin, whose channel and site are called Fototripper. He was also an instructor at Out of Oregon but I was watching him long before that, mainly because he’s got one of the greatest accents of all time and - with no disrespect intended to the rest of these guys - he’s by far the funniest of the bunch. This guy has to be a blast to hang out with. In another life he could easily be a stand-up comedian; his self-conscious “wait a minute” stare into the camera never fails to generate a laugh. His videos are primarily about working a scene for a good composition, with the laughs generated around the act of getting there and getting set up, a lot of it out and out physical comedy but mostly just Gavin’s naturally goofy, crazy, and silly personality. Some of the funniest videos are those where Gavin interacts with other photographers, including some of those on this list. And I don’t know who Amanda is, but she appears in almost every video, sometimes as a student, more often as a stalker, and these scenes are frequently priceless. I have noticed that, while Gavin’s personality remains as unchanged as his apparent sense of fun, he seems to have reduced a lot of the gags and more comedic elements to focus more on the actual photography. While I sometimes miss the gags, this change has served to show just how good a photographer he is.

Thomas Heaton (Thomas’s Channel) - Another gentleman from the UK who travels the world and takes us on those adventures with him. I discovered Thomas while searching the internet for tripod reviews, which is funny because, even though he offers up occasional videos on gear he uses, gear is in no way what he’s about. His videos are primarily a documentation about his struggles and frustrations in finding landscape images he deems worthy of presenting to the world. In fact, in some of his videos he may not even take a photograph. And he does all of this with poise and a level of modesty and self deprecation we would all do well to emulate. He isn’t at all afraid to laugh at himself over the things he puts himself through. His images run the spectrum from simple to epic, from evocative to whimsical. A gentleman who takes as much pleasure as Thomas does in a simple cup of tea and a hike through the woods, even without a photograph, is a gentleman worth spending time with.

Nick Page (Nick’s Channel) - I discovered Nick through a couple of courses he offered via 5 Day Deal, an annual online event wherein professional photographers offer up premium content for ridiculously low prices with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. You can’t mention Nick without mentioning the beard, which somehow manages to be simultaneously scruffy and well groomed and more or less epitomizes his approach to life. He’s a perfect example of what can happen when a talented person finally finds his or her life’s purpose: pure magic. His photography is epic, whether it’s seascape, woodland, desert landscape, mountains, whatever…Nick always finds a way to come away with something nobody else seems to have done. He was an instructor at the Out of Oregon conference so I had the double pleasure of going into the field with him and watching him walk through how he edits his images. I was surprised by how minimalist his editing is, which makes his artistry that much more impressive. His channel has a little bit of everything: gear reviews, processing examples, philosophical ramblings, and how he works in the field, all of it delivered with forthright honesty. He also hosts the Landscape Photography Podcast. Nick is absolutely worth checking out.

Serge Ramelli (Serge’s Channel) - I wavered over whether to include Serge in this piece because I don’t follow him that closely anymore, primarily because my processing skills have advanced beyond the demographic he markets to. At this point, for me, Serge is primarily entertainment, and it’s a rare video of his that doesn’t make me smile at one point or another. A French photographer from “the beautiful, the spectacular city of Paris, France now living in Los Angeles,” Serge has published several cityscape-oriented coffee table books and his work hangs in a variety of art galleries. It’s rare when he fails to mention these achievements - he is a master promoter of himself and his products - and that might be part of the reason he generates a lot of opinions, some bordering on harsh. Serge’s videos are primarily him editing his photos and if you’ve seen a handful of these you’ve essentially seen them all because he’s remarkably consistent in the way he edits. That methodology is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea, but I’ll tell you this: Serge made Lightroom accessible and understandable for me at a time when I was pulling my hair out trying to learn it. By watching him work I finally came to understand how and why to use Lightroom’s various sliders; without that foundation I never would’ve been able to take on Photoshop. If you’re looking for a quick understanding of Lightroom, definitely look into Serge.

Blake Rudis (Blake’s Channel) - Blake operates f64 Academy and f64 Elite (a subscription site), and has got to be one of the world’s premier Photoshop educators, which is pretty good for a guy who essentially makes videos in his basement. Blake also came to me through a 5 Day Deal charitable event, when he offered a Dodge and Burn course a few years ago. I’m embarrassed to admit I almost didn’t watch his offering, only getting to it late one night when I couldn’t go to sleep and had nothing else to do. To say it was life changing is a massive understatement, not so much because of the Dodge and Burn info (although I still those techniques today), but more because it introduced me to Blake and everything else he has to offer, including the Zone Systems Express and Palette Effects, two stunning Photoshop workflow panels that I use on every image I edit. Nowadays, I start getting antsy if Blake hasn’t put out a tutorial in a while and I’m a proud subscriber to f64 Elite. Put simply, my imagery would not be where it is today without Blake. His channel and his website are solely dedicated to teaching you how to do things in Photoshop and in showing you how easy those things can actually be. His teaching style is rapid-fire, sometimes like drinking from a fire hose, but he positively bursts with encouragement, contagious enthusiasm and energy. I met him at Out of Oregon too, and he’s exactly the same in person.

Chris Sale (Chris’s Channel) - I can remember exactly how I stumbled across Chris: he did a video titled along the lines of “I Quit My Job To Become A Landscape Photographer - What Have I Done?” How can you walk away from that? Chris lives in or near the Lake District, which is a national park in northern or northwestern England, a beautiful part of the world to judge from his photography. The primary focus of Chris’s channel is to document his transition from a working man to a professional landscape photographer running a business he hopes will be both personally satisfying and financially sufficient to support him and his family. He discusses his business and what he’s got to do at length, but interleaved within all of his videos are scenes of him working in the field going into detail about compositions and the whys and wherefores of the camera settings he uses to capture them. It’s fascinating stuff, a peek into the thought processes of a landscape photographer, and Chris delivers it with a wry sense of humor and straightforward genuineness, all accompanied with great scenic footage and his own imagery.

Michael Shainblum (Michael’s Channel) - I’ve only recently begun to follow Michael, and he hasn’t posted a whole lot lately. He was at the Out of Oregon conference last October as a panelist on photographers with YouTube channels, and I remember those panelists and some of the other instructors speaking about him almost with reverence. I left the conference, forgot about him, then I saw him in a Nick Page video recorded a year or so ago. So I decided to check him out and I was blown away. His videos tend to be focused on his travels and travails - kind of like Thomas Heaton’s - some instruction on how he processes his images, but mostly his time-lapse sequences, at least one of which is usually included in every video. Time-lapses are apparently what he’s best known for, and for good reason because they are phenomenal. They’re extremely well produced and edited, like miniature documentaries, and I could spend hours watching them. A year ago I’d have asked, “What’s a time-lapse?” Six months ago I’d have said, “Ah, I don’t really care about those, kinda gimmicky.” Today, I want to learn how to do them and I want to “Be like Mike!”

CHECK THEM OUT

So there you go. Shortcut your idle landscape photography searches and start with these guys. They may not all be your cup of tea but I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find something useful - a technique, nugget of wisdom, or inspiration - from each of them. And while there’s really no substitute to learning your craft than actually getting out and practicing it, these photographers can teach you a lot during these days when our “get out there” time is limited.