The first book that I bought that exclusively celebrated photographs, with no talk of technique or equipment, but was just a book of images, was a celebration of the work of Ansel Adams.

I have always considered myself to be an aspiring landscape photographer, and I adored the way he managed to not capture what a landscape looked like, but what it felt like.I haven’t looked at his work as much as I feel I should have, and in fact once I have finished writing here I think I will sit with it for a while.

A few years ago I spent a week with my family in Austria on a skiing holiday. I am lucky enough to have been quite a few times so can get down most pistes eventually, but I always tell myself it is an opportunity for photography that just cannot be missed! The trouble is, skiing is a little too risky for me to carry all my photography gear, and I only go once a year so I end up skiing the whole week, rarely taking the camera out of the bag!

Well, on this occasion I did manage to take a few shots, as the cloud was closing in and engulfing the mountain, like a giant, mountain eating marshmallow. I tried to keep Adams in mind, and rather than focus on how the landscape looked, focus on how it felt. Not to try and emulate his work, but to try and appreciate it more. Because I could carry a minimal kit, I had my canon 7D MK2, with a 50 mm prime lens. In many ways it was quite constraining, but in others it was quite liberating to not have to worry about focal lengths etc. I had to either move, or make what I could from what I had.

I am quite happy with my results.

I want to capture this ridge with a gritty, vintage feel

The mountain views were often obscured by cloud

Some of the local landscapes had a strong, creepy feeling

What do you think?

You’ve read the blog, why not visit the store? Prints, mounted and framed available here

All images are copyright to the ElementalPhotoBlog and may not be downloaded or reproduced

*Originally published on 24th February 2016