More about my Landscapes of the Mind presentation: From its very beginnings photography has been dogged by the perception that it is a medium for capturing “reality.” Leaving aside philosophic speculation about the nature of reality, capturing reality has never actually been possible. Photography is in fact limited to the capture of emitted or reflected light, and cannot render physical objects as such. Photography is also constrained by optics, geometry, the laws of physics, and limitations in the capture mechanism and medium. No two-dimensional view on screen or hard-copy print can possibly capture the real world, except as a kind of visual translation.

 

Throughout the history of film photography, art photographers have struggled with this subordination to reality, often going to great lengths—Jerry Uelsmann and Man Ray come to mind—to transcend this stumbling block to imaginative image making.

When digital superseded film at the dawn of the 21st century, the tools of photographic transformation became infinitely more accessible and far less difficult to use.

As artists, one of our most important jobs and challenges is to release the creative imagination—both ours and that of our audience—by revealing the unseen and by showing the world around us in a new light. The incorrect conflation of photography as a mirror of reality can paradoxically be approached as a “feature rather than a bug” by enabling willing suspension of disbelief while creating entirely new imaginative worlds.

Photographers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but the chains that bind your imagination.

Our journey starts with creative vision, and the tools for implementing that vision such as camera, composition, exposure and (of course) post-production. In this videocast I’ll guide you through topics including:

• Getting started with vision
• From conception to actualization
• Exposure techniques
• Composition techniques
• Compositing in Photoshop
• When is enough enough, and when is too much not enough?
• Why creative compositing is not AI slop
• Adding the personal touch
• Art, realism, and photography

 

 

More about the Landscape Photography Summit: This exciting online event brings together some of the most inspiring landscape and nature photographers in the industry, each sharing their expertise, creative approaches, and techniques to help you grow as a photographer.

 

 

 

Both options include a complimentary, custom, built for you website from SlickPic! 

 

 

The summit starts November 11, 2026 and ends on November 22, 2026. Click here to register.