Landscape photography aesthetics - Atmospheric hills

What the UK's hills lack in stature they make up for in atmosphere, courtesy of North Atlantic weather systems, driven by the jet stream. The atmosphere manifests itself as precipitation, cloud and wind, that provide the opportunity for atmospheric images and pose genuine questions of a landscape photographers endeavour, gear and technique, in the field.

Personally there's some appeal in making images in dynamic weather in the uplands and with a slice of good fortune, the cloud breaks to let sunlight through and play over the land as just reward for the effort and perseverance, it helps offset the days when things didn't quite go to plan. It was heartening and refreshing to see Mark Littlejohn's image of Glencoe awarded the LPOTY title, which captured the nature of that Glen well.

Average annual rainfall exceeds 4 metres on the higher hills in Wales, England's Lake District and the North West Highlands of Scotland. The summit of Ben Nevis reportedly clocks up on average,  250+ days annually with gale force winds over 50 mph and even down at 400m asl on lower hills and upland areas, there's still over 2.5 metres of rainfall annually and winds over 50 mph are not uncommon. The true nature of the UK's hills and uplands is a wet and windy one, as anyone who takes an interest in the Mountain Weather Forecast will attest.



The prime reason for monitoring the weather forecast is the hostility of the UK's weather, the only historic data I could find was from the Cairngorms automated weather station data which gives an indication of the weather severity in the hills.

Caingorm AWS

From the wind chill table above, an increase in windspeed and drop in temperature, changes the weather in July on the Cairngorm summit from pleasant to something potentially serious, if clothing is wet. It seems surprising that mountain hypothermia or the Cold Wet Killer was a phenomenon little understood until relatively recently from research precipitated by a tragic incidents. Two incidents come immediately to mind, in 1951 4 mountaineering club members died walking along the Uisge Labhair to the Ben Alder Cottage and in 1964 the deaths of 3 walkers on the Four Inns walk in the Peak District. The Four Inns Walk tragedy initiated medical research into the physiology of hill walking exposure. The risk of exposure, emphasises that in upland environments, outdoor gear is worn and carried that is proven fit for purpose and kit also packed to deal with an emergency, which with camera gear makes for a heavy backpack. A piece of kit that differentiates the upland landscape photographer, is the use of a technical backpack, instead of the frankly lame and marketing hyped, expensive, PoS, dedicated camera backpack.

There's also some pragmatism needed with upland weather, as there will be trips where all that results is an enhanced respect for the ability of native fauna to cope with the elements, the performance of outdoor gear given a field test and the joy of navigation with compass bearings. When deciding on what outdoor wet weather clothing to buy, an excellent starting point would be that used by unsponsored mountain guides or better still Mountain Rescue Team members as to the brands that actually perform in the hills. It's also interesting to note the choices by MRTs operating in different seasons and areas. If you ever get the opportunity, gamekeepers are well worth engaging in conversation, once you get past their dour exterior, they're really quite friendly and possess a wealth of practical knowledge of the outdoors and particularly of 'their' hills and moors.

My preference for camera gear is similar to my outdoor gear and is biased to weather sealing and build quality, which carry a weight penalty. Before wasting time and effort expended in the hills, it is well worth testing new gear at low levels in strong wind/rain to identify any weaknesses and/or establish the limits of the field performance. If you consider that a tripod is an essential component of your kit for composition and enabling long exposures at stopped down apertures and low iso, then tripod legs and heads are definitely worth investigating to ascertain the optimal weight/stability/ruggedness/height ratio.

It might just be me, but for a few years now,  I have been more interested in landscape photography emanating from hill walkers, backpackers and other outdoor communities, part of the reason is their empathy with the landscape and weather which manifests itself in some compelling work.