I’M GOING TO MAKE A TERRIBLE admission: I hate hill pics!
Hill pics, fell flicks, mountain movies, whatever you want to call them: there’s a certain type of shot walkers take when they’re ‘up there’ which is so utterly devoid of interest to anyone who wasn’t ‘there’, it’s more eye-watering than a gale on Glaramara.
Synchronised somersaults.
(woolly jumpers, if you will)
I’m talking about pictures of bumps, folks. Green bumps; not-so green bumps; bigger bumps; smaller bumps; bumps in the sun; bumps in the rain; bumps in the fog (obviously); bumps partially hiding, or partially hidden by other bumps. More bumps than you can shake your ultra-lightweight, ergonomically-designed, aluminium alloy, adjustable and collapsible trekking pole at.
Bucking mumps everywhere, and I have to say that many of the otherwise delightful Facebook groups I’m in dedicated to rambling life are full of these horrors.
But I’m not the sort of chap to bring problems without the accompanying solution, no sir! Thankfully the antidote is breathtakingly simple: foreground interest.
Put anything, literally ANYTHING, in between you, as you’re taking the picture, and those distant indistinct undulations. It could be a fence post, an old weathered sign, a twisted tree branch, a sheep or a cow, a bird, a boat, a bird on a boat, an unusual stone, any stone, heck, even someone’s backside as they’re bending over to do their laces up – yeah, the moon’s an option too…
have to improvise…
You have to break up the monotony of that uniform greeny-grey featureless fuzz you’re telling us is worth looking at if you want more than a cursory glance. I’d rather eat cowpats than see another 50-shades-of-grey-bump masterpiece. Cowpats, there you go! Foreground interest par excellence, especially with a boot stuck in it! You see, we’re practically falling over potential focal points of interest, but try not to step in them if that’s not your intention.
On a small technical point, a thing called a wide-angle lens is a great help here (and knowing how to exploit it), although absolutely not a prerequisite for creating stunning shots with something eye-catching at the front of the picture.
Please don’t be offended or despondent if most or all of your shots seem to lack interest the way I’m describing here. That’s great! It means it will be extremely easy to hoick your photos up to a completely new level in no time.
background interest!
I’ll let you in on a secret: most of the shots I take up on mountains – because I can’t resist taking them, you know – go straight in the trash as soon as I get back to the ranch. Why? You know why: GBS & NFI. Green Bump Syndrome and a desperate case of No-Foreground-Interest.
You have to work at it; get inventive; move around a bit, scouting the area for likely subjects to fill in one of those bottom corners with something NON-BORING, and preferably not green either!
One of the reasons I decided to take my two colourful mascots with me on every walk isn’t because I’m obsessed with the Eiffel Tower, Paddington Bear or France. It’s to have something colourful, fun and decidedly eye-catching to play with than what you usually find on top of a given Lake District fell: sheep droppings, sorry slopes and shivering sloggers!
I invite you to share your unboring shots in my wonderful Lakeland Chronicles Facebook Group, where you’ll get a warm welcome and appreciation for your creative efforts, wherever you are on that particular journey.
By the way, I run in-depth, online Smartphone Photography Masterclasses once or twice a year – ask in the group if you’re interested.
Happy snapping!
The Laggard of Lakeland 
(Lakeland Chronicles No.27)
Visit my fun Lakeland Chronicles Facebook group to comment on THIS POST, take part in the regular tricky quizzes and share your own shots ‘n’ stories with us!
Wainwright Log: 7 of 214 Fells Felled / 0 Books Bashed / Visit Log
