Joe Cornish visited last week, and it was a genuine pleasure to spend time with him, both in conversation and out in the field. I took him to some of my less frequented locations and we photographed together in lovely late spring light. We also recorded several new Lightroom Insights sessions, working through each other’s images as well as photographs submitted by readers. On that note, if you’d like to submit a raw file for us to process in a future session, please send it to submissions@onlandscape.co.uk.

We spent time discussing Joe’s forthcoming book project, a kind of career-spanning portfolio of his finest work, which I’ll be writing about in a future issue. Part of that conversation involved going through a number of my own books together, looking for inspiration on size, design, paper weight and layout, which was a very enjoyable afternoon in itself.

As you’d expect, cameras and lenses came up too. Joe is a Sigma ambassador and brought along some new glass to try, including the Sigma 20-200mm Contemporary zoom. I’ll admit I was sceptical; every lens I’ve used beyond a 4x zoom has disappointed, and a range stretching to 20mm at the wide end seemed almost implausible. On our first day out, Joe lent me his A7R5 along with that lens, and I found myself checking the rear screen repeatedly in disbelief. Back at base, the files were even more impressive. A 10x zoom that holds its own against a manufacturer’s 24-105mm, and at lighter weight, is stunning. The photograph below of Glen Coe is taken on it’s widest setting and would easily make a 30” print. It seems that travel lenses no longer have to be massive compromises for landscape photographers.

Glen Coe at 20mm on the Sigma 20-200

Click here to download issue 351 (high quality, 168Mb)

Click here to download issue 351 (smaller download, 99Mb)

Tim Parkin

Issue 351

Click here to download issue 351 (high quality, 168Mb) Click here to download issue 351 (smaller download, 99Mb) more →

End frame: Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt

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The Killing Time

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Beyond the View

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