Photography can be frustrating at the best of times. But it’s even more frustrating when we feel as though we’re not making any progress. For many of us, a large part of the appeal of photography is mastering something so challenging. Much of the satisfaction comes from getting better. From looking back and recognising how…

“There’s nothing to photograph in my local area.” We all know that to be a landscape photographer requires us to travel to dramatic destinations. Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Patagonia. Success in landscape photography so often comes down to who has access to the most spectacular scenery. It’s so easy to dismiss what’s all around us.…

Is there a photographer out there who doesn’t enjoy hearing nice things about their work? I doubt it. We put in the hard yards, publish our photographs to a wall of indifference and suffer the familiar sting of disappointment and frustration. So when someone has something nice to say, it feels as though all that…

Imagine Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin sitting together in a café in Arles, discussing their latest paintings. “So, Paul, what brushes are you using at the moment?” It’s a ridiculous image, isn’t it? Two of the most celebrated painters in history, discussing their equipment rather than their art. And yet, photographers do this all…

We scroll through Instagram, bombarded by amazing photographs, each one shouting for our attention. Epic mountains. Dramatic waterfalls. Fiery sunsets. The Northern Lights reflected perfectly in a frozen lake. Some real, some perhaps AI-generated — but that’s another story. Images that once would have stopped us in our tracks now barely earn a second glance…

For all its many virtues, landscape photography can be a frustrating pursuit. Even if you know where you want to get to, you don’t necessarily know how to get there. You might try YouTube: “This ONE Trick Will Transform Your Photography” or “STOP Making These Mistakes”. But the advice often contradicts what your own experience…

Photography is a bit like golf. Both are simple to understand and frustratingly difficult to master. It is easy to argue that, as they are both hobbies, we should take pleasure from simply doing them. But there is only so much fun to be had if you continually slice your tee shot into the rough.…

There is a point in every photographer’s journey when we stop thinking in terms of single images and succumb to the pull of the photography project. Projects allow us to combine multiple images to tell larger stories. Or they help us hammer home our point of view by repeating an idea across multiple frames. They…

Few people have been able to express what makes a great photograph more eloquently than Australian photographer Peter Adams: “Great photography is about depth of feeling, not depth of field.” We are told that telling a story is a powerful way to evoke feelings. Narrative is one of the essential elements of good photography, and…

Recreating photographs we admire is a great way to learn. We get to grips with composition, understand how light shapes a scene and develop the skills to turn an idea into an image. There’s real satisfaction in standing somewhere familiar and finally making the photograph we’ve seen others take. But once we know how to…