I very much enjoy the hunt for the grand, vast, dramatic types of landscapes that lead the eye on a journey through many beautiful elements. It’s a challenging pursuit that leads me to rugged and remote places, and consumes much of my life. It takes a lot of time to research, travel and explore these places. Naturally, however, the quest for such images can be consuming to such an extent that it can result in too much of a narrow, single-minded focus. One must always realize, that great images can be found almost anywhere – even our own backyards. The ‘magic mushrooms’ image you see here was taken right outside my door!

The little things – the scene within a scene, can be equally fascinating and yield an even broader array of photographic opportunities if you know how to look. I’m going to take a break from the ever popular big, sweeping landscape for a moment to present some abstract renditions – the images you see below to your left on this page (although examples in my gallery here are certainly not limited to these four). ‘Seeing’ the abstract within the landscape is a matter of changing our focus from compelling near/far compositions to looking at a scene in terms of patterns, layers, contrasts, textures and simple, attractive subject matter. Diversify your thinking and experiment. These little scenes are challenging to find, but equally rewarding for me, if not more so. They rarely have the mass-appeal or ‘wow’ factor of a grand scenic, but they can tell a story equally well.

Take a moment to consider this when you’re out in the field. It’s too easy to limit yourself, when pursuing a very specific type of image. Look everywhere around you.