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Ben Southan
@ben.southan
Landscape photographer based in the UK
Growing up in the middle of nowhere in the UK countryside with schoolmates led us to adventuring around the local woods and fields and spending pretty much all our free time outdoors. This was fun and filled the free time. In Nottingham it’s mostly flat though and there was nothing that came close to the Lake District and their mountains where we headed with our family trips. My real excitement for the outdoors comes from there.
My love for nature and travel were originally the reason that got me out and about and seeing the world, photography was just a happy side addition that came with that. However now it’s almost the opposite, my passion for the outdoors is still as deep and present as before but my photography is what is making me get up on the mountain summit for sunrise or solo wild camping in Scotland.
"Before, travel took me to my photography, now photography makes me travel."
Photography has become my number one hobby and pastime, above everything else. I’ve gone from going out late at night to getting up early for sunrise, to saving money for the next camera gear or the next trip to Scotland. I’ve always gravitated to the outdoors so there was no real struggle transitioning my focus across from nights out to become an outdoor photographer in my spare time, except carrying all the extra gear when wild camping! My friends and family are very supportive of my decision and I’m often camping with them and exploring new places, trying to capture the moment too, although I can’t say they are too keen on winter camps and getting up for sunrise. I’m known for being at my happiest in the mountains and camping and everyone knows that too, so it works pretty well.
As a travel and outdoor photographer I aim to show people what can be seen on our doorstep and around the world, if they are prepared to shake things up from the norm. The main mindset I personally have to be able to break things up from the norm is to just get out and do it. Take that excitement that you get from the initial buzz caused by the thought of doing it and go. Some of the best moments I have had are a result of me saying to myself “just go”. An example was during storm Dennis last year, where a friend and I had planned to camp in snowdonia even though there were severe weather warnings. Not wanting to be reckless we decided not to camp in our tents but spend the night in a mountain bothy/cottage, where we shared the evening with 15 like minded people, hunkered down in the storm, all there for the same reason.
"This experience taught me that you just have to get out and brace the weather, you never know who you might meet and be able to share future experiences with."
I feel we tend to cancel on things or skip simply because we are afraid to get cold, that there will be too many or too few people, or that some place is “just another city” or “just another park.” Or because we think we are not capable. But surprise, learning and opportunity lies in the unexpected – doing unusual things brings unusual experiences, people, learning, results…
So, I don’t consider weather or demotivating expectations to be such an obstacle, though I do find it challenging to get a shot or visit a place that hasn’t been battered by instagram. One of my favourite photography and camping destinations is Scotland but over the recent years, in particular the Isle of Skye, it has been swamped with people going to get “that shot” of the Old Man of Storr and some of the other big landmarks there. To be able to compete against this I’ve tried to get a different perspective on these landmarks or more importantly and more excitingly, I have been finding new locations, often ones that require overnight camps or trekking across the landscape for hours.
"Though I have to say that my favourite photo at this moment is one I took in the Isle of Skye; a shot of a friend walking down the curving road by the Quiraing."
It is a fond memory of one of the best sunrises I’ve witnessed in perhaps the most incredible landscapes I’ve been to in Scotland. I also feel like it’s a photo that has identified my style for the future and that is something I have been aiming to do for quite some time, particularly over the last six months. I have been trying to look for a style that is different to a lot of the successful profiles you see on instagram, for example the extra moody ones or the desaturated green ones. I’ve also realised that adding a person into an image adds an extra dimension to the shot that people gravitate towards, be it a small figure on a mountain top or even just an over the shoulder shot with them out of focus looking at the landscape ahead. With this in mind I then try to achieve a colour palette I wanted to have throughout my images.
"I have naturally turned towards a teal & orange style, be it because this suits a lot of the areas I like to shoot in such as the Scottish Highlands or it’s just a colour pallete I like."
I always start an edit with applying one of my presets, this gives me the base from which I can work on but also means all my photos have a consistent style, matching them up nicely. I often use split toning to get the teal highlights throughout the picture, this is usually already done when I apply my preset but is often tweaked once I get hands on with the edit. In general, for my editing process, 90% of it is done on Lightroom and the other 10% is photoshop. The most important thing I find about editing is to have fun. Editing for me is equally as fun as the trips I go on to get the shots. I’m already thinking about going home or getting back to my laptop to edit as soon as I get a second to sit down from a day’s shooting.
I am still trying to work out a balance between having my mind focussed on my camera and my thoughts on editing, and enjoying the actual ‘perfect’ moment for a shot. In some ways it doesn’t matter as I enjoy photography so even at those points where I maybe should be taking a step back and “enjoy” the moment, I already am enjoying it because I’m outdoors shooting with my camera. However I do feel it’s important to have moments where I am not always looking through the lense, and instead just stand there and be there.
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