End frame: Dovercourt Lighthouse by Neil Hulme

Richard Ellis

Richard Ellis is an enthusiastic landscape photographer based in Berkshire. His favourite locations are coastal and he is working on a personal project exploring images along the shore. Richard is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society and chair of the RPS Landscape Special Interest Group.

richardellisphotography.co.uk

It is always difficult to choose a favourite photograph especially when you have a broad interest in landscape photography. I started by deciding on a genre chosen from impressionist, minimalist and classical. After some time and lots of image reviews, I settled on a minimalist image.

I think there are many things that attract me to minimalism but one of the main attractions is the sense of artistic freedom. Unlike a classical landscape which is to some extent laid out by nature, the minimalist landscape photographer can choose where to place the subject in the frame. This is partially driven by the fact that there is often only one subject, giving a great deal of choice of subject position which can radically alter the feeling of the photograph. The artistic freedom is further enhanced by the opportunity afforded by post-processing. This allows the photographer to de-emphasise any other elements in the photograph, blur the horizon line and alter the mood of the sky. All of these are also possible in a classical photograph but to a much lesser extent.