Composition & Creativity, Landscape

Creative Landscape Photographs

How do you make better, more meaningful creative landscape photographs? I’ve found some practices that have helped me along my creative path, and after jotting them down, I realized that these ideas could be helpful to other creative disciplines as well, such as writers or painters. Nurturing the creative soul is a universal requirement among artists.

As an artist, the most important thing you can do to improve your work is to live authentically. What I mean by that is live a life that is creative in nature, sincere, and honest. Practice your craft with enthusiasm and joy, and all that energy will show in the resulting work that you produce.

You can read my article, “6 Steps to making more creative Landscape Photographs”, in it’s entirety here. The educational website, Visual Wilderness, has invited me to write for them and I will be publishing an article there every two months. I will also be posting here on my own blog, so please do check back for new material.

Creative Landscape Photographs by Charlotte Gibb
“Winter Refuge” — Although I consider myself a Landscape Photographer, I find that occasionally photographing something different helps me cross-train and strengthens my photography skills overall. I’m also a bird-lover, and my affection for these animals comes across in my photo because it is authentic and sincere.
Creative Landscape Photographs by Charlotte Gibb
“Corn Lily” — I had made this image one day in Yosemite’s high country. I was out for a short hike, and was traveling light — just my camera around my neck with a single lens, my Lensbaby Composer. A Lensbaby is an inexpensive lens that can be toggled to create fun, unexpected results. In other words, it is playful. Play is very important to creativity. Your creative mind will open if it is having fun, so don’t always take your art seriously. Bring a sense of play to your work!
Creative Landscape Photographs by Charlotte Gibb
“The Universe as Seen Through The Jaws of a Crocodile” — Ok, there’s a story behind this photo! I was setting up this shot in the Trona Pinnacles and was planning to light-paint the giant ancient tufas with my dinky flashlight, when I heard the sound of a helicopter approaching. Suddenly, a huge military helicopter rose over the horizon and buzzed my friend and I, shining its blinding spotlight on us and the whole scene. Somehow, I had the presence of mind to trip the shutter while this was happening. Because I was confident in the technical aspects of the camera, I wasn’t rattled when the moment came to capture the scene. 

Charlotte Gibb is a contemporary fine art photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area specializing in landscapes of the Western United States. Her images are often taken in familiar places for the well-versed landscape photographer, but she prides herself on her keen eye toward the subtle and sometimes overlooked beauty of the natural world. Growing up among the beautiful mountains of Northern California, she considers herself a student of life, learning about people, nature, music, and photography along the way. But always, her life-long passion for the wilderness shines through it all. Charlotte earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and has exhibited her work in several solo shows throughout California. Her darkroom, long gone now, has been replaced with digital darkroom tools, and her style has evolved from a somewhat journalistic approach, to one that pays tribute to the natural world.