Expressive Black-and-White Landscapes

Landscape photography is formed by the point of view of the photographer; it is a spiritual experience, the reflection of a culture. Historically, the great masters of black-and-white landscape used large-format cameras and traditional film processes. Now advances in digital technology have opened new opportunities for photographers who wish to explore the aesthetic and technical aspects of digital black-and-white landscapes.

The earth has a vast range of landscapes, including the icy landscapes of polar regions, mountainous landscapes, vast arid desert landscapes, islands and coastal landscapes, densely forested or wooded landscapes including past boreal forests and tropical rainforests, and agricultural landscapes of temperate and tropical regions. Most importantly, we quite often overlook the landscapes we live within which exist right out outside the door we open each day in our lives.

The character of a landscape helps define the self-image of the people who inhabit it and a sense of place that differentiates one region from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives. During this online workshop we explore landscape as varied as farmland, a city park, the ocean beach, or the backyard of your home.

In this workshop with Carlan Tapp we take the time to learn, to see, and fully express the spirit of the black-and-white landscape as we discover a place and the secrets of its beauty. We consider the concept of landscape and how it is connected to the cultural, social, and geographical aspects of our environment.

We combine traditional Zone System methodology with new digital processes to forge a complete digital grayscale workflow. We learn to express in the black-and-white image our personal interpretations of landscape. Blending traditional, new, and emerging techniques and technologies, we discover the extraordinary possibilities of expressive digital black-and-white landscape work.