Joe Cornish evening

A discussion that Mr Steve had with us about a visit to the college by Joe Cornish, widely accepted as a true master of landscape photography, led to a very good and inspirational presentation by Joe Cornish at the Burton College on Wednesday 8th December 2010, in the new lecture theatre.

During the presentation, it became very clear how much Joe cares about his subjects and how he looks beyond the photograph.

Joe presented a selection of his prints, which demonstrated his artistic approach to his work.

In his photographs, Joe demonstrates his talent with his composition, with the sky featuring from 1/3 to 1/2 in the image, Joe did comment how he would concentrate on the image moving horizon line up or down depending on both the foreground and the sky, to get the best out of the scene.

Joe's photographs demonstrate how he uses the existing light, which changes all the time, to get the best lighting for his work, using the light to form shapes, patterns and lines.  Sometimes Joe includes people in his landscapes to emphasize the whole scale of some of the features in his landscapes.  Joe uses leading lines to draw the viewer into the photograph.


During the presentation, Joe explained how he used maps to see the lay of the land, and this combined with weather forecasts, which are vital to anyone who is looking at landscape photography, not only to get the best results but also for their own safety.

Where Joe features the foreground, you can clearly see the texture in the elements of the foreground, with Joe using his position from where he takes his photograph, to choose how he wishes to use the perspective and select a suitable focal point to concentrate the viewer on what Joe wants people to see.

Joe's passion for the outside comes across clearly in both his photograph, and in his words.


Certainly, a very good and informative evening, and the first of many that I would like to attend.