Subscribe to AP at The Photography Show and get a free signed book by top landscape photographer, Jeremy Walker. Jeremy reveals more about the book and his forthcoming photo tours to Scotland and Iceland, in partnership with Zoom Tours and AP…
Jeremy Walker is one of the UK’s most celebrated and accomplished landscape photographers. His debut book, Landscape, is the culmination of a journey that has taken him several years to complete. He has shot some of Great Britain’s best loved photographic locations, but the book also took him to many lesser known hidden gems. If you subscribe to AP at The Photography Show, you will get a copy of the book, worth £45, which is also signed by Jeremy. We caught up to find out more about ‘Landscape.’
How did the idea for Landscape come out?
To be honest, producing a book was a bucket-list project. But I wanted it to be a book that I was in control of. I didn’t want a publisher telling me that I could or couldn’t do certain things, which is why I self-published it.
The subject matter is just something I am passionate about. It’s a mixture of landscape, but it’s also landscape with history and architecture. So the images tell a story, and there is mood and drama. It’s not a location book, it’s a coffee table book.
Ruined church and graveyard in the fog and mist.
Has an appreciation of history always informed your photography?
When I was at school I wasn’t very academic, but I enjoyed history very much. Being able to combine a passion for the outdoors and the natural world with this strong interest in history was a perfect fit for me.
Corfe Castle in the mist
Did it help keep you sane during the lockdowns?
I had virtually finished shooting all the images for the book when the pandemic hit. It had taken a long time, as none of the images are from my archive – I shot everything fresh, all 109 images. During the pandemic I could sit down and write about the images, doing the research and the history. So in that sense, the lockdown came along at a good time. Shooting the images is the fun bit, but sitting down and writing about them is the hard bit!
Tintern Abbey in the mist at sunrise.
How was producing the book changed your photography?
The book has taken several years, so my approach has changed, and some of my kit has changed – if I am walking over the moors to an old castle or ruin, I tend to just take one body and just a couple of primes now. The way I look at landscapes has also changed. Rather than just trying to do pretty pictures I am now trying to tell a story, where there is a bit of history in the landscape – whether it be a ruin, or a hill fort, an ancient forest etc. So I don’t just want to do pretty sunsets and sunrises anymore, I want my images to have a bit of a backstory.
Jeremy is also working with Zoom Tours and AP to run three photo tours – to the Isle of Skye, Glencoe and Iceland.
So what is going to be different about your Zoom Tours to Skye and Glencoe?
Skye is incredibly popular. What will make this tour different is the after-the-shot work, for example, the image reviews. These tours are not just thrown together, they are professionally planned. You have the expertise of Zoom Tours, the photographic reach of AP, and I have been doing photo tours for 15 years and I love it – so it’s a great combination.
That said, we will shoot the classics; often when people come on the workshops they want to be taken to certain ‘honeypot’ locations, but on the way we can find ruined cottages, for example, and lots of other interesting things to shoot.
Glencoe is another immensely popular area, will be doing Rannoch Moor, Buachaille Etive Mor, etc, plus a few diversions to lesser known spots, such as waterfalls people don’t normally get to. We will also go to lesser-known locations if bad weather hits the more exposed places.
What about the Iceland Photo Adventure?
Again Iceland has become immensely popular, but I know the country well and will be taking participants to some great places. We will visit the classic locations but it’s easy in Iceland to overdo it, so we will have the flexibility to stop on the way to do more personal and detailed imagery.
