Chasing Seasons: Landscape Photography Through the Year

Chosen theme: Chasing Seasons: Landscape Photography Through the Year. Join a yearlong journey of light, weather, and place—where each month brings new moods, stories, and techniques to elevate your landscape photography. Subscribe, comment, and grow alongside a community that lives for the next sunrise.

Mapping the Year: Planning for Seasonal Light and Mood

Use solstice and equinox dates to predict sun angles on your favorite peaks, arches, and coastlines. Track golden and blue hours, twilight arcs, and moon phases to plan shots where celestial paths align perfectly with your chosen compositions throughout the year.

Mapping the Year: Planning for Seasonal Light and Mood

Study fronts, inversions, and dew point spreads to identify conditions for fog, rime, and afterstorm glow. Pair satellite loops with local webcams. When pressure rises after rainfall, dawn can explode with color—perfect for reflective lakes and minimalist ridge lines.

Expose for White Without Losing Texture

Snow fools meters. Watch your histogram and protect highlights while nudging exposure to the right. Dial a custom white balance or shoot RAW to rescue nuanced blues in shadowed snow, keeping detail in wind-sculpted drifts and crystalline surface textures.

Ice, Patterns, and Safe Exploration

Frozen lakes reveal labyrinths of bubbles, cracks, and feathered frost. Test thickness, carry traction, and photograph from low angles to exaggerate texture. A polarizer tames glare while leaving delicate micro-contrast—the poetry of winter written in lines and light.

An Anecdote of Storm-Born Simplicity

I once waited out a whiteout on a quiet ridge. When the storm parted, one lone spruce emerged from the haze. The frame worked because everything else fell silent. Share your winter breakthrough moments below and tell us what conditions made your minimalism sing.

Spring Awakening: Mist, Blossoms, and Fresh Greens

When warm, moist air meets a cool dawn, valley fog blooms. Scout high ground the night before and arrive before civil twilight. Let the landscape reveal layers, using telephoto compression to stack ridges like watercolor washes drifting through new leaves.

Spring Awakening: Mist, Blossoms, and Fresh Greens

Blend an intimate foreground bloom with a wider seasonal backdrop. Try focus stacking at f/8 for crisp petals and contextual depth. Gentle backlight makes petals glow, while a diffuser or cloud cover saves color from harsh specular highlights.

Spring Awakening: Mist, Blossoms, and Fresh Greens

I missed peak bluebells by a week once, then learned to track phenology reports and elevation bands. Now I move uphill as the season climbs. Comment with your local bloom tracker tips and help others time their spring story just right.

Taming Harsh Light and Using Shadow Creatively

When the sun sits high, lean into silhouettes, graphic shadows, and reflective water. Use a 6-stop ND for soft waterfalls, or retreat to forests where dappled light builds gentle contrast. Reserve grand vistas for golden hour and chase long, warm sunsets.

Storm Safety and Electrifying Compositions

Respect lightning. Count seconds between flash and thunder to gauge distance, shelter early, and avoid exposed ridges. After the cell passes, saturated skies and double rainbows appear. A wide lens and polarizer help manage reflections while anchoring your foreground with grounded elements.

Milky Way Season: Planning and Noise Control

Use star charts to time the core’s elevation and direction. Scout foregrounds by day, then stack exposures to minimize noise. A tracker allows lower ISO and finer detail, while warm twilight frames can blend to keep the landscape believable and cohesive.

Autumn Fire: Color Theory, Fog, and Still Water

Pair complementary colors—amber larches against cobalt mountains—to create tension and balance. A circular polarizer removes glare from leaves and water, deepening hues. Watch for over-polarization at wide angles; rotate gently to keep skies natural and foliage luminous.

Autumn Fire: Color Theory, Fog, and Still Water

Calm, cold nights set the stage for glassy water. Arrive early, frame low, and let subtle ripples soften a reflection. A two-second exposure smooths surface chatter, while a graduated filter protects your bright sky from overpowering the burnished shoreline.

Ethical Fieldcraft: Leave No Trace Through the Year

Seasonal cycles reveal tender ground. In spring, avoid trampling new shoots and cryptobiotic soils. In winter, stick to durable surfaces to minimize post-holing damage. Your composition improves when you keep the scene pristine—no trampled grass, no broken crust.

Ethical Fieldcraft: Leave No Trace Through the Year

Breeding seasons demand distance. Use longer focal lengths, observe body language, and avoid baiting or playback. Ethical choices create calmer scenes and richer behavior, telling seasonal stories without stress or intrusion. Your audience notices integrity in the frame.

Ethical Fieldcraft: Leave No Trace Through the Year

Join our monthly, season-themed challenges with a pledge to disclose locations responsibly and share conservation tips. Comment with your favorite local guidelines, and subscribe to receive field ethics checklists tailored to winter, spring, summer, and autumn adventures.