Why Landscape Photography Is a Series of Disappointments (and Why We Keep Shooting)
Landscape photography loses something at every step, from the field to the screen to the print. Here's why, and why photographers keep going anyway.
I once heard a landscape photographer describe photography as a series of disappointments. It's a striking observation, and it holds up at every stage, from the field to the final print.
1. You Can't Capture the Whole Scene
You arrive at a terrific location during golden hour and want to record all of it. That's impossible, because a photograph is two-dimensional and a landscape isn't.
Say you walked along a river to reach a view of the mountain. In your mind, the river is still part of the experience. But if you can't find a composition that includes both, viewers will never know it was there. For each frame, you have to choose a few key elements as the main subjects. No matter how good the photograph is, it only captures part of the scenery.
2. The Photo Doesn't Match What You Saw
Back home, you load the images onto your screen and they fall short of the real thing. In person, you watched the clouds move, but the camera recorded a single moment, and it may not be the best one. Camera sensors have limited sensitivity to light, and screens can only display a limited range of it. The brilliant colors of the sunrise or sunset look duller, and the mountain may be too dark because the sky was too bright.
3. The Print Looks Worse Than the Screen
You keep going. You edit the photos to bring them back to life, then print your favorites, only to find the prints look worse than they did on screen. Paper can reproduce an even narrower range of color and brightness.
Why We Keep Trying
At every step, the medium is more limited than the last. It's pretty hopeless, but we keep trying. Against all these disappointments, we can't help but admire all the other photographers' beautiful works. We keep trying to improve. We are still addicted to the process. I guess that's the drive behind art creation.