Man vs. Mother Nature

Photo taken at Gantry State Plaza using a GoPro (RAW)

I've always viewed photography as a hobby I do on a leisure time. Most of the time I usually "practice" either when I feel like doing it, have the time, or when I feel like going someplace. So conclusion, most of the time, I don't do anything until I met
somebody who kind of challenged me.

Ever since I started this hobby, I've mostly focused on landscape photography being point A.) I lived in the Philippines my whole life (~21years), and B.) Portrait photography is something that never sparked any interest in me (See previous post) until recently.

About a few nights ago, my friend and I were having a little bit of a debate whether landscape or portrait is harder than the other. Of course having been able to experience the extremes about landscape, I said landscape, and he, portraits.


This debate has led me to an interesting topic: Landscape vs. Portraits: which is harder.

I tried to look for articles online about "realistic" comparison between the two but I was never able to find any. Just descriptions, and some personal opinions.

We both did have pretty strong arguments. I asked some people and they also did have split opinion regarding the matter.

Portraits

Always thought that portrait photography is the easiest type of photography. Just take a photo of the person, then that's it. I never really got into this field since that is what I have believed in for the past years I have been in to photography. Funny thing is when people know that you're a photographer, they immediately think that you could do all sorts of things with your camera. Portraits, landscapes, sports, food, macro, etc...

I always thought I could handle portrait photography but I was never so wrong in my life. About a few weeks ago, my friend and I went to some abandoned place to shoot portraits. Of course, drifting from my usual thing, I realized that it was a real challenge. Moving subjects, everything going fast and out of focus, it was really hard. If you factor in my almost-a-decade-old camera, then you get your cherry on top. It was still fun, and pretty challenging.

And then after that we went out to shoot more photos with some of our friends, and I have to admit that I suddenly go interested.

Landscapes

And of course, I had to defend my first love, Landscape Photography. It's not just about getting a nice photo of the sunset, the mountains, the river, etc. Landscape photography is about the experience. Climbing mountains, waking up early in the morning, or staying up until the wee hours, taking long drives, and all that kind of stuff. It's not just about photography itself.

There is no justice behind a great landscape photo. Ask any photographer, and they have a story to tell about it. So I guess, yes, I'd still say that Landscapes are harder than portraits. Somehow, you have to make the photo enticing. Everybody goes to the same location, and the real challenge is how would you make it standout from the rest of the world? Something to think about.

Landscape photography is the complete package. From scouting to actually visiting the location, to waiting for the perfect time, the perfect moment (like street photography), for when you're trying to capture the fast but sweet sunset, to trying to focus to infinity for astrophotography, then yes, the whole process is a mess but the results are lovely.

Conclusion

There's no such thing as an easy task but I guess landscapes and portraits don't differ that much. Both aspects challenge you to create something that would actually stand out from the rest. Photography is more than just taking a good photo. It's about taking THAT photo, and turning it to a story, or a moment, or showing a character that would be processed by the human mind in such a short period of time.

Both challenges you on how you'd be able to create and show a content, that people would look at for just 2 secs and leave. It's about showing the world that it deserves more than just 2 seconds of your time because it took you more than 2 seconds to get that shot. It took you 2 mins, 2 hours, 2 months or even years to figure how to take one photo right.

Every photo is more than just a photo and need more than 2 seconds of your time. Every photo is a story untold, which you'll be able to unfold if you give just more than 2 seconds of your time.