32 Outdoor Photography Autumn 2014

1 Location is key. Pools can make good foreground subject s

2 Make a shoot plan. Use Photographer’s Ephemeris and Google Earth to help.

3 Check that the route is within your ability and fi tness level. Leave plenty

of time for photo st ops on the way.

4 Make sure you have suffi ciently warm and waterproof clothing.

5 Don’t get lost in the mountains. Learn to navigate using a map and compass.

Use GPS phone apps only as a back-up.

6 Take time to invest igate the area and explore shot potential.

7 Make sure you have balanced the elements in your scene. Be wary of

the combination of wideangle lenses and dominant foregrounds.

8 Shoot at a low ISO with an aperture around f/11 and a shutt er sp eed

adjust ed to get the correct exposure.

9 Explore diff erent ways of capturing the scene as the light changes. Don’t st ick

too rigidly to your plan.

10 Stay the night. To expand your opportunities – both in the locations

you can visit and the times you can be there – think about wild camping.

10 STEPS TO SUCCESSWILD CAMPING

If you’ve ever tried to climb a mountain before sunrise you will know that it’s not so easy. Imagine planning a hike before dawn, waking up to a 4am alarm, looking out of the window,

deciding the weather isn’t good enough, and going back to sleep, only to miss a fantast ic sky. Spending the night on location allows you not only to capture sunset and sunrise from a high vantage point, but also enables you to photograph the twilight hours and the night sky. Once you’re committ ed you’ll be at the mercy of whatever weather comes your way. This can be hugely benefi cial if you are there in place for that momentary burst of light on an otherwise miserable day. If you’re really lucky, the conditions will be so good that by the following morning you’ll be wondering whether it’s worth reshooting scenes you captured perfect ly the night before!

Aside from being on the mountain in a range of weather conditions, wild camping also opens up the number of locations you can feasibly visit to photograph. Many landscape photographers recognise the benefi ts of shooting during the golden hours and twilight, but if you have a big walk in, of perhaps fi ve hours, then you will probably end up ruling out the most remote locations. If you can make it to those hard to reach places then you will fi nd yourself alone, oft en in areas that have hardly been photographed at all.

Gett ing kitt ed outStarting out isn’t as diffi cult or as expensive as you might think, particularly in summer; you will soon make up the expenditure with the

saved cost s of accommodation. A good st arter setup for one person summer camping will cost around £300, roughly sp lit into: £100 for a sleeping bag, £40 for an infl atable mat, £100 for a tent and £60 for a backpack. If you’re willing to buy secondhand then you can get st arted for under £200. Once you have a litt le bit of experience in the warmer months then you can buy bett er sleeping kit and head out in the autumn, winter and sp ring. In England (with the exception of Dartmoor), wild camping is not allowed, but if you camp resp onsibly above 500m with ‘leave no trace’ principles you will not have any problems.

TAKE PART! Enter our ‘mountain photography’ competition –

turn to page 111 for details.

WINTER WARNINGIn winter, mountain hikers face greater risks than during summer. Ice and snow increase the chances of slips and falls, while unsuitable clothing combined with bad weather can lead to hypothermia. Before heading out on to a snow-covered mountain you need appropriate experience. A winter skills course is a great way to learn how to be safe and how to use crampons and an ice axe correct ly. You can then gradually gain experience on routes you’ve already hiked in summer.

Once you know what you are doing, and are properly equipped to tackle winter mountains, you will st art to realise the wealth of photographic opportunities they present.

The air is oft en clearer in the winter and the light is bett er, too. Snow and ice bring with them fascinating foreground details with which to form a composition. Another bonus is that you’ll see even fewer people than in the summer, and you might even fi nd that you have a whole mountain to yourself.

above Wild camping with a group of beginners in Assynt, six miles from the nearest village.

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