On Landscape - Passing Through

Just before Christmas we asked our readers for a bunch of questions that we could put to Joe Cornish when he visited next and the response was fantastic. In the end we recorded two hours of audio but to keep installments to a useful length (a lot of people say they listen to them over breakfast or during a commute) we’ve split it into half hour sections.

So, a big thank you to Joe and everyone who submitted their questions and here’s the fourth and final section..

Just before Christmas we asked our readers for a bunch of questions that we could put to Joe Cornish when he visited next and the response was fantastic. In the end we recorded two hours of audio but to keep installments to a useful length (a lot of people say they listen to them over breakfast or during a commute) we’ve split it into half hour sections.

So, a big thank you to Joe and everyone who submitted their questions and here’s the third section..

We've also included an incidental collection of snowy images to run alongside this item.

Marc Adamus is a photographer who has taken adventure landscape photography to extremes. His hero is Galen Rowell and he shares a lot in common with his lust for further, higher, colder, (insert hyperbolae here) and I would say if Galen were still around today and active his work wouldn't be too far removed from what we're seeing from Marc himself. Although he's based in Oregon, he has travelled and photographed much of North America. We contacted Marc after he released a batch of stunning images taken during 2012 and he answered a few questions for us and talked about a few images. We've transcribed the interview but have also included the recording (at the bottom of the transcription) if you wish to listen to it as a podcast.

Tim: Okay, well I’ve put a few questions down, so I’ll just dig into those if you like? I noticed in your other interviews, because I had a look around online and I listened to a couple of podcasts, that Galen Rowell is a big inspiration. Galen started his vocation by climbing and not photograph, how did you begin your photography? Was it photography first or the outback back-packing first?

Marc: Oh well, part of photography for me is just the product of a lifelong interest in every type of outdoor adventure, I just always really, really enjoyed getting outdoors. I got out of high school at 16 and I spent the time just scraping together whatever funds I could find through whatever means to pursue an interest in backpacking through the high country and getting out there in winter, doing some mountaineering and a little bit of amateur climbing as well, and I actually found Galen Rowell’s work through his climbing. I knew him as a climber through his many exploits around the world - he was regarded as one of the very handful of top climbers of his era. The climbing world was extremely familiar with him, and I at that time had a budding interest in photography but mainly just for the purposes of documenting my own trips and bringing those memories back for people. And when I saw what he was able to do with a camera as well, I think over time that really influenced me to take my photography more seriously.

Just before Christmas we asked our readers for a bunch of questions that we could put to Joe Cornish when he visited next and the response was fantastic. In the end we recorded two hours of audio but to keep installments to a useful length (a lot of people say they listen to them over breakfast or during a commute) we've split it into half hour sections.

So, a big thank you to Joe and everyone who submitted their questions and here's the first section.



and a transcription (apologies for transcription errors - we are getting around to proof reading these soon)

Tim: Hello and welcome to On Landscape. We are here with Joe Cornish with some questions raised by our readers, so ‘Hello Joe’.

Joe: Good morning Tim.

Tim: We put these questions up about a week ago and we have had some great responses and what I will do is I will say who the questions are from and read the question out and we will take it from there.

So, the first question is from Alex Nail and Alex asks ‘I would like to hear an adventure story or two, a tale of bad weather or exhaustion or something along those lines. I have had a few bad trips myself so I’m sure Joe has a tall tale or two and they always make entertaining reading, well when they end well‘.

Joe: Well, thanks very much Alex. If I can say so, that is probably fairly typical coming from Alex, not that I have met him, but he is a photographer who has definitely ‘pushed the boat out’ once or twice I think.

Tim: Likes an adventure.

Joe: Judging from his pictures, so I am kind of slightly embarrassed to answer it by say that, although I have done a huge amount of photography out on the hill over the years, most of my trips are day trips and especially when I climb in the higher mountains they are usually made in reasonable weather because I am fairly safety conscious, being a father of two children and not wishing to die just yet, so I try to stay, more or less within, let’s not call it a ‘comfort zone’ but within a ‘safety zone’.

I think in recent years the closest thing I have had to, well let’s say an interesting experience with, was on Beinn Ime in the Arrochar Alps the day before my 50th birthday and that was; I got caught in a blizzard, fairly high up on a mountain and the forecast was mixed but I hadn’t expected it to be anything like as vicious or as spectacular as it was. Basically, it said sunshine and showers. Well, of course, sunshine and showers down at sea level is sunshine and showers.

Tim: Sounds quite pleasant, doesn’t it.

Joe: Yes it does, yes. It makes for good light and it’s a good photographer’s day. I set off before sunrise; it was in early March so not very short daylight hours, set off well before sunrise and I actually had two goals in mind on the day, one to take a photograph of the Cobbler, which is an interesting shaped mountain in the Southern Highlands, and then to walk past that and then to climb onto the slopes of Beinn Ime. I had a specific view that I was looking to photograph.

Tim: Is this for Scotland’s Mountains?

Joe: It was for Scotland’s Mountains and, as I say, the day before my 50th birthday, and so I had managed to get a couple of pictures made in the early light, which was quite nice, as the clouds were ebbing and flowing, coming and going, and then essentially I had about an hour and a half hike to get up high up into the shoulders of the main mountain past the Cobbler, which I managed to get a five-four picture of.

As I started climbing, it got cloudier and generally more moody looking and I was thinking, ‘well, I need to be careful as I go’, and then the wind started to pick up and by the time I was close to the main shoulder of the mountain, not right on the summit but high on the hill, it really, really got bad and I thought, ‘well, I think I will try and find some shelter here for a little bit’.

Tim: Could you see this coming in or not?

Joe: Yes, and it got dark as well and I managed to find a kind of ove...

We've feature David and Angie Unsworth in a previous couple of articles, one as featured photographers and also an interview with David about his work and influences. They also have a book of their photography, A Landscape for the Imagination.



David and Angie now have an exhibition of their work at the Brantwood, former home and museum for John Ruskin. We talked to both David and Angie after a great day at a secret quarry location. Here's the interview. We've also included some images from the exhibition at the end of this article.
Podcast
https://youtu.be/ruj0x_Mt0TY