I had a great chat with James McGurk from the National Trust for Scotland recently, all about the impact that tourists and photographers can have on the landscape. You can hear our conversation in this issue’s Any Questions podcast. I won’t give too much away, but James made it clear that landscape photography generally falls into the ‘beneficial’ category (so long as photographers steer clear of the extreme end of the spectrum where people are setting bad examples and sharing poor advice).

Some of the stories James has come across are pretty shocking and, sadly, they’re not that rare. From setting off fireworks during high fire-risk days to bringing battery-powered chainsaws on camping trips! Although it’s usually a small number of people causing the biggest problems.

Stopping this kind of behaviour is tricky, unless we can rethink how people are educated about these places. But on the flip side, great photos of wild places can bring a huge amount of joy and help people feel more connected to the land - maybe even enough to inspire them to protect it.

The most positive thing we can do as photographers is to share images of the places we care about and become advocates for them. Get in touch with organisations who might benefit from your photos, offer what you have, and ask what they need. There are all kinds of campaigns, planning issues, NGOs, and community groups that could use support.

I’m working on an article exploring some of the ways photographers can get involved, and I’d love to hear your ideas about what we might include at submissions@onlandscape.co.uk.

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