John Edward James:
Landscape photographer based in UK
@johnedwardjames
Roaming around Lake District
Starring, John Edward James: traveler and landscape photographer based in the United Kingdom.
We live in a time where finding inspiration couldn’t be easier. I often admire the adventures and thrilling moments that travelers share on social media. If you think about it, every time you see a picture that takes you to another world, you have to remember that what you see, happened in reality. How often do we forget that the landscapes, some times dressed as a piece of art, are there waiting for us, inspiring the many adventurous spirits than go in search of the moment?
It gives life, controls, organizes, directs and governs. The sun, the light that determines the direction and purpose of the planets, also guides the adventures of our favorite landscape photographers. They wait for the sun to disappear between the snowy mountains and they enjoy the first lights of the new day. Poetry and photography are often the same thing.
James, better known in Instagram as @johnedwardjames is able to speak poetry through his photography. Converting a moment into a virtuous image is a gift that our guest has conquered through effort, dedication, and talent. When the sun is on your side and talent meets opportunity, everything is possible, specially in landscape photography.
Landscapes, also, can free themselves and revel their true nature to those who seek their mysteries. James has been capturing some of the most magic moments that nature can offer, and this is exactly what makes his photography so unique, so special. James has been able to create a solid style and today he is one of the biggest sources of inspiration in Instagram. A true adventurer, a moment seeker, and a virtuous of the camera!
In order to understand better who is James as a traveler and gain an insight into the most interesting details of his photography I asked him 14 questions. The following was the outcome!
Welcome James! The first thing that quickly called my attention is the powerful style of your art. I think this is part of who you are as an artist nowadays. How did you develop such style?
Developing my own style has been a long and ever changing process. Over the years I’ve adapted my style as I’ve learnt new techniques. Whether it was learning how to blend photos more effectively during post or the first time you discover how to convey a sense of movement by changing your shutter speed – it’s all come together to leave me where I am now. That’s one of the things I love about photography, you’re never, ever (!), finished with learning.
There are a lot of photographers that I admire greatly; they have influenced the direction that I wanted to go in when developing my own style.
I think finding other photographers that really appeal to you is one of the building blocks of finding your own style, finding the shots that you personally find to be most interesting and trying to deconstruct them to understand what makes them so visually appealing to you – then start incorporating similar techniques with your own spin on them. I think it’s interesting that if you looked a lot of the people’s work that inspire me the most you probably wouldn’t think that we have similar styles at all.
People discover photography through different channels. What stimulated your interest for landscape photography?
I’d been using camera’s regularly since I was in my early teens, shooting with point and shoot film cameras and then into early digital camera’s when I was 15 – they’d always held my interest, generally documenting mine and my friends time together. Landscape photography seemed to be the natural path of progression for me.
I used to shoot more city and urban scenes (especially whilst I was at Uni) but I was always left yearning for something a little more natural. I began venturing out further afield, still starting close to home, but going and checking out the rivers and country parks in my local area. I was hooked. I’d never seen so many sunrises or sunsets in my life.
"I think I’ve always had an emotional affinity toward nature, but it was photography that really helped to unearth it"
The lust for the landscape and that beautiful golden light became ever stronger, it changed from lust to love soon enough. Photography started taking me to places in my home country that I couldn’t have dreamed existed before visiting – the Lake District I’m looking at you! As well as seeing the most beautiful parts of my country (and others), photography has taught me to appreciate light in such a wonderful way. Light transforms the most boring scenes into something just a little bit special. The world has become a far more beautiful place to live in since I’ve taken up photography in a serious way.
How do you sustain a life full of travels? Is there any trick or tip you can share with us?
Share your costs with friends – car rental, fuel, snacks. Plan as early as possible – you’ll often get the best deals on flights if you book early. Don’t be afraid to rough it up – I’ve always enjoyed camping, this alone has saved me thousands on hotel bills. I’ve also slept in the car a lot – I’d definitely recommend camping over sleeping in your car though as I’m yet to find a car that’s comfortable to sleep in.
What is your approach when it comes to planning your trip and finding your ideal locations?
Research, research, research! Google, Instagram, pinterest, 500px are all great places to find the areas that you want to shoot. Some basic websites such as suncalc.net will show you exactly where the sun will rise/set on the day that you’ll be there.
"If you want to go a step further than that, you can use various apps The Photographer’s Ephemeris is one of the best, so is photopills"
As I mentioned before, your art has unique characteristics! What is the first thing you do when editing a photo and how much time do you normally spend on Lightroom?
Time spent in Lightroom/Photoshop differs greatly depending on the subject and the conditions that it was shot in. I tend to spend a lot more time on classic landscape shots than I do travel ones. I’ve created a lot of presets in Lightroom over the last few years which I can use to speed up the initial edit. I’ll still tend to follow a similar workflow once I’ve made any initial adjustments. Edits can range from 10 minutes to 10 hours, it really depends on the scene, the light, and what my vision is for the image is. Some photos don’t need many adjustments, others can be enhanced greatly by lots of subtle changes.
"Stay as close to the locations you want to shoot as possible, this makes late nights and early mornings that much more bearable"
Professional photographers know that being successful is a combination of having the right equipment, knowing how and when to use it and then having photographic vision (creativity). You have been sharing some magnificent aerial photos for a while now, using a drone is a good method to ensure constant creativity?
Ever since getting my first drone a few years ago, I’ve been hooked. Having the ability to have a powerful camera in the sky is, to me at least, incredible. I try to use mine as an extension of my DSLR, at least in the thought process when framing a subject – it’s rare that you’ll see me shooting pure top down shots. The video side of them is invaluable too, the technology really is amazing!
There are many landscape photographers sharing real value in terms of visual content as well as written content in Instagram. Yet, they are not able to grow as “influencers”. What are the three strategies that in your opinion allowed you to grow in Instagram?
This is a tricky one, trying to grow your following can be a full time job in itself. For those that are looking to build a large following there are a few key things that can help you. One of the big-ticket items is consistency – posting high quality photos/videos consistently, replying to people consistently, commenting on other photographers consistently – you get the idea. Letting your personality shine through is key too, don’t try and be something you’re not. Engaging with the community was the most enjoyable aspect of social media for me, I’ve met so many great people through Instagram and I can’t wait to meet even more.
"The other thing that will help you drive growth, in my opinion, is creating your own style. As more and more photographers appear on a daily basis, it’s key to ensure that you’re as unique as you can be"
As a photographer, I am sure that you feel attached to all your photos. All your pictures represent unique moments of your life. However, among your works, do you have any picture that you really like? Which is your favorite photo?
I’ve got a number of favourites, but this photo is probably the one with the most meaning behind it.
I took it whilst on a snowboarding holiday in the French Alps. The holiday came shortly after my grandma died and I’ve called the photo “Mountainous memories” in tribute to her. My Grandma used to be a painter, often painting beautiful landscapes. Standing there whilst taking the photo I just knew that she would’ve been in awe of the scene and with blue being her favorite color palette to paint in, I couldn’t think of anything else but her – I know she would’ve been so proud of that shot.
Can you tell us the most notorious anecdote that ever happened to you being outdoors?
The first one that springs to mind was nearly dying whilst on a hike in Snowdonia. We, as a group, decided to descend from Snowdon off the side of the Llanberis track down to the road a little earlier than usual. We came to a tricky part of the descent nearing the foot of the mountain, I was confident that I could make it down a part that the three others in my group weren’t so keen on. I made it down that bit, no problem. The others had walked off to find a different route down. I was stood on this ledge about 30 meters from the end of the descent when all of a sudden I slipped, bounced off my back on the floor and fell over the edge. Incredibly, I flipped over and landed solidly on my feet about 6 foot down on another plateau that was a couple of feet wide.
"Had I missed that, or stumbled upon landing I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t be here today"
The others hadn’t seen me fall and may not have found me until they made their way down. Fortunately it turned out the way it did and I learnt a lesson. Respect the mountains, and your own safety. If you’re climbing without ropes, stick together and watch out for each other – don’t do anything daft no matter how confident you are in your own abilities.
Among all the extraordinary places you have been to, what landscape impressed you the most?
This is a really tricky question to answer, there are so many landscapes that have blown me away for different reasons. The coastline of the Pacific North West in the US was as rugged as it was beautiful. The Italian Dolomites were some of the most majestic mountains I’ve ever seen. The Lake District in the UK is one of the most charming areas in the world. Seeing Mont Blanc from the peaks of neighboring mountains with it still towering above us was in the traditional sense of the word, awesome. One place that I knew was beautiful before I visited was Kauai, but it surpassed all expectations – seeing the Na Pali coast from the side of a helicopter with its doors off was incredible. The spires towering above crashing waves below, over a kilometer in height, practically vertical was truly a sight to behold.
Learning a new skill requires practice and time, but useful tips can accelerate our learning process! What are the 3 most important pieces of advice you would give to young talent pursuing a career as a photographer?
Look at as many high quality photos as humanly possible.
Find inspiration from other people and try and understand what makes their images so powerful – reach out to them and talk to them if you can.
Most of all, just enjoy it – it will show in your work.
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
Micahel Shainblum, Ryan Dyar, Ted Gore. All of three of these photographers are masters of their trade and I suggest that you check each of them out. Our styles are very different, but those guys and their techniques is what got me going in the direction I decided to take.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
I’m super excited about a couple of upcoming trips, I’ll be revisiting Italy in a few days and checking out some areas that I’ve not been to before. The second trip will see me heading to Iceland and to the Faroe Islands for the Midnight Sun in June. Hopefully I’ll squeeze in a few more trips before then though.
Can you fix the world in one sentence?
