Landscape Photography Influences - Galen Rowell

This is the first of what will probably be several posts on Galen Rowell, is one of the selected photographers as possible subjects for Assignment Four. Whilst in Lanzarote I spent some time reviewing his book Galen Rowell's Vision The Art of Adventure Photography.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Rowell's enthusiasm and passion shines through the work. Rowell specialised in adventure photography in extreme wilderness locations. He started off as an active participant, climbing extensively all over the world. Photography was something he did as he pursued his adventures. Progressively he became more a photographer and less an adventurer. Sadly Rowell and his wife were killed in a aircrash in the early 2000's.

The book comprises a compilation and reworking of articles Rowell published in Outdoor Photographer magazine. The chapters are grouped into four sections:

1. Goals: Transforming dreams into realities through personal visions
2. Preparations: Pushing the limits of equipment, film and technique
3. Journeys: Merging visions with realities
4. Realizations: Communicating your worldview through photography

It is a highly readable and practical book. But as can be seen from the section titles Rowell  was emotional and passionate about his work. 

I found the first section particularly influential. One of my key goals for undertaking the Landscape course is to try to develop my personal style or signature. Rowell talks at length about the subject of personal style. The key lessons on style I have taken from his ideas are;

• style should be internally directed and come from an emotional to the subject
• emotionally distancing oneself from the subject will result in the photographer avoiding developing their style
• the photographer should seek to simplify to produce powerful images
• fine photography communicates by metaphor
• clarity, emotional response, and a sense of order combine to create style from within

These are really interesting insights. I have made a mental note to  ask myself three key questions when considering making an image: what emotions does the scene  evoke (if none then perhaps its time to move on); how can I convey these emotions simply and powerfully; what metaphor can I use to achieve this. 

I also found Rowell's ideas about image maturity very interesting. He defines the terms mature and immature as follows:

An immature image is a normal subject photographed for an immature audience, ie an audience not familiar with the subject. Such images need to be bold, direct and obvious. In the case of landscape this might be a straightforward depiction of a landscape scene.

 A mature image is a normal subject photographed for a mature audience, ie an audience familiar with a subject. In this case the bold and obvious might be regarded as a boring cliche so more subtle imagery is needed suggesting the presence of something. For example a detail from the landscape which symbolises the big picture.

The key lesson from this idea of image maturity is that I need to consider who is the audience for the image whether the subject is well known by this audience. 

Rowell also makes many interesting points about photographic ethics and suggests that the ultimate aim is to pre-conceptualise an image and to go out into the landscape and find the image. Emphasis is on the word find, rather than manipulate, control or contrive.

Section 2 on equipment, film etc is somewhat dated now, but it is clear that Rowell was on top of his game technically and this is an aspiration I aim to adopt too.

Section 3 talks about the practical challenges of access, commercial encroachment on wilderness areas, environmental and human pollution issues. He raises many issues which remain important today. 

Finally in section 4 he talks about using photography to communicate your views on issues you feel strongly about which are of importance in the world today. Rowell had for many years provided through his images support for Tibet in its fight for independence. This gets back to the issue of passion and emotion. I have to say that reading Rowell's articles made me realise how superficial some of my work is and how I need to challenge myself emotionally if I am to radically move my work to another level. 

All in all this is an excellent and extremely influential book. I intend to read further works by Rowell and may well select him as my photographer for my detailed review in Assignement Four.

My favourite image from the book is the one below. It is a shot of bad weather clearing El Capitan in the Yosemite valley. I love the way the snowclad pine trees point inwards accentuating the height and scale of the mountain behind. The cloud covered but still sunlit mountain looks wild and threatening. This is not a study of the detail of the rock face. Rather it is  an emotional depiction of the awesome nature of weather in the high mountains. 

Clearing storm El Capitan Yosemite by Galen Rowell