Beyond Expertise: Landscape Photographer Edward Allistone

What does your typical day as a landscape photographer look like?

I do very much compartmentalize landscape photography. I do photo trips and then spend a couple of months editing the photos. I find that it’s a nice balance of building up an appetite to take photos.
 
When I'm back in Bristol, I might only pick up a camera a couple of times a month, go out to my local spot, and take some landscape images. Mostly, I use that time to reset and think about what I've achieved, think about what my next trip's going to be like. Sometimes you need time in between creative parts to actually process what you've done and what you want to do next.

How do you decide where your photo trip would be?

There’re certain places that have drawn me and I'm still working on a style of landscape photography. I go through different phases of more simple compositions and more complex, but I'll find a landscape that inspires me for some reason and then I'll return to those multiple times.
 
To some extent, I've investigated, I've scouted a place and then I've got addicted to what I can find in that place. Conditions play a big part as well because we don't get much snow where I live in the southwest of the UK. We get a lot of mist and atmospheric conditions, so going further up north to Scotland or to Wales, you can get more minimalist shots within the snow.

Could you share one of the most impressive collaborations?

It’s probably the video I did with World Nomads. It’s about a fire festival down in the southwest of the UK in Devon. Men there carry big barrels, fill the barrels with fire, put them on their shoulders, and run around the streets of this small town. What I liked about that experience was the fact that the video itself was fun, it was actually dangerous filming. You had to get out of the way of these flaming barrels but then there was also the softer element where you got to interview these men that have been doing this since they were children and talked to them about their tradition, which I found really interesting. It was a nice variety of different skills that you had to use and talking to people was always fun.

Could you then share one of your favorite works?

I've taken a lot of influence from Bruce Percy who's a Scottish landscape photographer. I try to keep a lot of my images as simple as possible but then I'll go through phases where a lot more complexity comes into them. There's an image from the Brecon Beacons, which I tried to keep this simple-ish graphical style but it also has a load of complexity.
 
I like another image from Wales that it's simple and complex together. It also includes a color that I think a lot of photographers are afraid of. It's got a lot of green in the foreground of this image. It's a church on an island in the north of Wales and it combines this simplicity and complexity and it also combines a color that I'm kind of scared of using too much in my images.
 
My favorite picture is always the one from my next trip. That's the issue that I have so I don't know whether I will still like these images the most.

What skills do you think an excellent photographer should have?

Patience is a big thing. With my style of photography, I always use a tripod so I tend to be in one place for a long period of time watching the environment develop. You could be there for three hours waiting for the right thing to happen. I wake up at 4:35 every day so I'm always ready to be in the right place for sunrise. I think that's a good skill for a landscape photographer because the best conditions are in the morning.

What does photography mean to you and what have you learned or gained from photography?

There were lots of technical skills because I tried lots of different styles of photography when I was early on. I tried portraiture, I did a bit of videography as well, and I did wildlife photography. Paying more attention to the world around you is a super important thing. Cartier-Bresson talks about the decisive moment and how doing photography makes you pay more attention to the present moment and what's going on around you, how things are going to develop and you're more sensitive in the world through photography.

What do you prioritize the most in editing?

The integrity of the final image. I can do a lot of editing in Lightroom or a lot of editing in Photoshop. I'll use different techniques to get there. The editing environment is also really important. I've always got audiobooks or podcasts in my ears and I'm always taking in information. However, when I'm taking or editing photos and videos, I never listen to anything. I really like to focused in complete silence, so I a distraction-free environment is important.

How does ScreenBar Halo help you in editing?

Usually, I'll go full dark in the room and, with the ScreenBar Halo, I can turn off the front down light and just have the light bouncing off the wall behind so that helps with eye strain. My favorite feature of the ScreenBar Halo is that you can switch between the front and the back lights or a combination of both. When I'm writing emails, I'll always have the desk light off and the ScreenBar on, so I can see my keyboard properly, but when I'm editing photos, I'll only have the backlight on.

From ScreenBar Halo’s packaging and its build quality, its functions, and benefits for your work in the eyes, how would you describe our brand?

The packaging and the presentation of the item itself is like buying something from Apple. It feels like a high-end brand. Everything feels tactile. I like the matte metal finish on everything, since it suits the aesthetic that a lot of people go for in their editing rooms. I'm very impressed by the quality of it and I'm sure would be very pleased with the unboxing experience.
 
I think the other thing with it as well is that speaking of BenQ, you might think of monitors and photography-specific equipment or videography equipment. It's not just BenQ cashing in on a well-known brand for monitors. It's genuinely a good product on its own.

Could you share a motto that represents your philosophy of being a photographer?

I always ask myself what doesn't need to be in the frame. What doesn't need to be here? I like being in nature. I like the challenge of making a pleasing nature photograph because a good view is not necessarily a good photograph so the skill of learning to compose and what to leave out of the frame, what to keep in is addictive.

What is your future goal as a landscape photographer?

Continue to develop, continue to go on the path that I'm on because it's still about investigation for me and finding a style within the landscape. As I get more experienced, I'd like to do more workshops and more trips. Do more group workshops with people and start to transition into doing more educational photography because I do enjoy that as well. I used to be a teacher when I was in Moscow so I like both parts of that.