Landscape photographer Andy Mumford discusses kit, technique and imaging advice
Andy Mumford may currently be based in sunny Lisbon, but his image making has taken him to far-flung corners of the world. An experienced landscape and travel photographer, he’s also a passionate teacher of photography who shares his expertise by leading budding creatives in workshops.
“People tend to come into landscape photography from two directions,” Andy begins. “It’s either because they’re really interested in photography and cameras, or the side I came from where you’re really interested in hiking and nature.
“From a young age, I did lots of camping with my parents and hiking in the Peak District. I always loved being out in nature. For me, it’s all about the experience – how being in that place makes you feel – and photography is a way of recording that.”
Trial and error
By his own admission, Andy’s first attempts at landscape photography weren’t particularly good. But rather than being discouraged, he became fascinated by figuring out what made some photos better than others.
“I remember as a kid, we would take a film camera on holiday. When you’d get the photos developed, there’d be this expression: ‘This one’s come out well; this one hasn’t come out.’ But I’d never questioned what that meant,” Andy recalls. “What does it mean when a photo comes out or doesn’t come out – and why might that be? What caused it to be out of focus, or for the exposure to be blown?
“I started looking into it and trying to work out why I liked some photos while others were terrible, so I joined some early online photographic communities. I learned through that and quickly became obsessed with taking better and better photos – long exposures, waiting for golden hour, these sorts of thing. I just taught myself, but it all came primarily from a love of being outside in nature.”
This love for the outdoors means the core of Andy’s photography is about communicating a sense of a place rather than creating a documentarian depiction of the landscape.
“You’re not really photographing the place,” he muses. “You’re trying to photograph the way the place makes you feel. That’s the ultimate goal of any photo, especially in landscape photography.”
Creating a mood
“I’m not a stickler for technical perfection. I used to worry a lot about clipping highlights and things like that, but as you get more confident in your photography you learn to lean into imperfections,” Andy suggests.
“For example, I might be shooting a scene where nothing is happening in the sky. In a lot of places I work, like Namibia, the skies are usually very empty. That means it’s fundamentally not an interesting element in the photograph,” he notes. “What you can do there is lean into blowing the sky out, to make it white and hazy instead.”
While technical aspects can be pulled around and played with, Andy believes you can’t compromise on a strong composition. “The composition has to feel harmonious,” he asserts. “There are all kinds of rules for composition, but what they come down to at the end of the day is creating something with visual balance. There must be harmony in the way the different elements fit together.”
Something crucial for a great photo – yet harder to define – is mood. “What makes the difference between a good photo and an excellent photo is the mood,” Andy continues. “For that, you need the right conditions, which means there is an element of fortune about it.
“As I’ve progressed, I’ve learned ways of dealing with bad weather and flat light to find or create mood – whether by underexposing or post-processing to introduce higher levels of contrast. Mood is something you need to elevate an image. It’s so important, even people who don’t have a technical understanding or interest in photography will notice it and be able to feel something from the photo.”
Elements of spontaneity
In the world of landscape photography, planning goes a long way, Andy explains: “I have a partner I work with who doesn’t value any image that’s spontaneous. He spends so much time looking at weather forecasts and Google Earth that his satisfaction comes from seeing all the pieces come together as he predicted.”
While Andy’s work also centres around extensive planning, he’s much happier to leave room for the unforeseen in his photography. “There’s usually an element you don’t expect to see. You know the light will interact in a certain way, but certain conditions could light up a particular part of the scene you hadn’t expected – so you have to be flexible and ready to adapt.
“Typically, in an image, you might have a foreground within 20 feet of you, while your subject could be kilometres away. Between your foreground and background, all kinds of things can be happening. There might be no light at all on your foreground, while the background is very well lit because of a gap in the cloud or something you couldn’t have anticipated.
“In that instance, you could take off your wide-angle lens and use something like the FUJINON XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR to remove the foreground, punch into the distant landscape and start composing in a different way.
“If I think about my portfolio, a lot of images are planned – we go and wait for the intended light and then make the shot. But even within that, there’s often an element of trying to find a particular foreground that works with the background we’ve already scouted, or the light will behave unexpectedly. You’ll just think, ‘OK, this will work.’”
Andy’s landscape photography equipment
In a discipline that can combine photography with long days of hiking, Andy has to consider the trade-off between portability and sheer optical quality when selecting his equipment. “Cameras and lenses are so good compared to when I started 15 to 20 years ago,” he points out. “We’re incredibly blessed. Generally, the highest-quality lenses are heavier, so the GFX System is what I use if I want to nerd out over quality.
“When I want portability, though, the FUJIFILM X-T5 is what I’ll reach for. And Fujifilm’s less expensive lenses – the ones that aren’t the very top of the line – are excellent for my needs. Typically, rather than bringing the best, sharpest primes and F2.8 zooms, I’ll have what’s lightweight.
“There’ll always be a wide-angle zoom in there – something like the FUJINON XF10-24mmF4 R OIS WR – and I’ll bring a telephoto zoom, like the XF70-300mmF4-5.6 R LM OIS WR. Then in the middle, I’ll have a standard zoom. The one I use is the FUJINON XF16-50mmF2.8-4.8 R LM WR. It’s a superb lens and weighs just 240g. Alongside something like the XF70-300mmF4-5.6, which is just 580g, you’ve got a lightweight set-up with amazing coverage.
“I don’t obsess about using the absolute sharpest lenses. If I did, I’d use things like the FUJINON XF50-140mmF2.8 R LM OIS WR, XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR II and XF8-16mmF2.8 R LM WR. Those are incredible lenses with fixed F2.8 apertures, but heavier.
“Most people are never going to see that extra percentage of sharpness in my work. I might notice it if I’m zooming in to 100%, but for the prints I sell or the images I make for online campaigns, you’re not going to see the difference.”
How to improve your landscapes
While bringing the right equipment for the job is important, Andy notes that it’s far from the first thing fledgling landscape photographers should be thinking about. “Don’t get hung up on it,” he notes. “What you should be more focused on is improving as a photographer.
“The golfer Gary Player said: ‘The harder I practise, the luckier I get.’ The more you get out, the more you’ll be in places where you have opportunities to take good photos. You don’t have to go far,” Andy adds. “Much of what I taught myself came from shooting the coastline near Lisbon, within 45 minutes of where I live. Most people live within driving distance of some form of nature.
“What’s important is getting out there at hours that aren’t necessarily comfortable. Getting up in the cold for the sunrise isn’t nice. Being out for sunset might mean having dinner very late. But it’s worth getting into that discomfort zone.”
It takes more than simply creating photos to improve though – reflecting on your work is a crucial part of the process, suggests Andy. “You also need to be a critic about what works compositionally. With cameras these days, getting exposure and focus right is relatively easy. That leaves composition, which is a phenomenally complex thing to understand.
“It’s the hardest thing to teach. It’s like trying to teach someone why a certain arrangement of musical notes makes a nice melody, but if you change those notes around it sounds wrong. It’s something we feel almost subconsciously. Why are certain shapes appealing? Why is a lone tree more appealing than five trees? You have to practise – and keep looking at your photos to learn what works and what doesn’t.”
