Following are my own thoughts that I always have in the back of my mind for composing the landscape art. I’ve given my best efforts to express them in words. Some of the principles may apply to one in any walk of life

1. THOUGHTS

This is the starting point for composing an art. It’s no different for a landscape photograph. You must have the thoughts running through your mind every now and then to have the ability to see in your imagination an already finished art. Keep thinking of your thoughts over and over again so that you know what to do, when the opportunity presents itself to you. The famous Earl Nightingale once said, “The human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches beyond your wildest dreams”

2. SOLO TRAVEL

It’s important to have your thoughts self contained in your mind. You may lose yourself in others’ thoughts if you were to hold a discussion with other minds while you’re in the process of composing your art. Don’t pollute your own thoughts with that of others. Solitude is gold!

3. CREATIVITY

First step for this achievement is to stop asking questions and opinions of other photographers on ‘how to’ and exif information of the photographs that inspires you but cherry-pick the inspiration alone and go out there to create with your own methods. Nature is the raw material for your landscape journey. It’s upto you to use your imagination to craft it according to your thoughts. Be mindful of your time, because the natures’ colors around you, change like a chameleons’ skin

4. FATIGUE

This may sound bizzare, but I’ve often captured images that astonishes me at times that I even had the ability to capture those images even though they had never occurred to me in any of my thoughts before. Creativity would often be at it’s greatest when your body is in survival mode. Learn the art of using it for your benefits but make sure you don’t harm your health

5. FINISHING

Processing a photograph is essential to almost all the photographs you compose. An unprocessed image is like the wood. A processed image is like a furniture; finished, moulded and polished as per your needs. You don’t want your image to be composed by the camera’s default behavior. It’s ‘you’ behind the lens who is the creator. Take control of your ship and take it all the way to processing and printing. A photograph without an intent to print is unfinished

6. REJECTION

This may apply to men alone and is more inclined to your spirits.  There’s a lot of positivity in rejection if you know the right way to deal with it. Masculinity grows by challenge. Take rejections as a challenge in bettering yourself in your art. For example, take your finished prints out for direct sales to test the worthiness of your prints. If you’ve got a customer, that feeds your confidence. If you face rejection, that feeds your masculinity. Rejection is the blood, you are the leech!

7. COMMUNICATION

This is a skill one must master especially if you are an introvert. Most artists are introverts. Building your communication skills helps in making you more approachable. It also helps in finding your way across when you’re driving or even during situations when you need to ask for opinions on basic human needs such as food, water and shelter, while you’re on the move in remote locations. Learn to smile more when you talk. Smile is an universal language and helps breaking language barriers while you’re photographing an alien place

8. OPPORTUNITY

This takes practice as you may not be able to compose the image that you want, for unavoidable circumstances such as weather conditions, unreachable places that you initially planned to reach or you were just unable to find the right perspective to apply your creativity. You will need to look for other opportunities for an entirely different composition. Sometimes, the diamond may just be lying in the corner of your eye

9. TOOLS

A good sturdy tripod is a must have for keeping your camera steady during windy weather conditions. Any minute shake would screw up your captures. Take off the camera’s neck straps which would also avoid camera shake in windy conditions and inturn reduce the sharpness of your images. You will need CPL filters most of the time when you plan to shoot the depth of the water bodies and ND filters for long exposures. A lens cloth also would be handy in landscape shoots to clean finer dirt on your lens. Keep cleaning your lens for every session of your shoot. A lens hood would be helpful to avoid glares on your images. A glare could be unseen on soft-copies but often will show up on your large prints

10. BRAVERY

One need not be heroic but the courage to think different is sufficient. A close up image of an apple seed could get you hundreds of buyers. Or there could be one monster buyer on his birthday even after his cremation, guess who? If one only had the courage to create something new without fearing ridicule, there could be millions of opportunity for creation and need not worry about competition