Smoky Mountains Photography

Photography Books Everyone Should Read

I recently read two photography books about nature – that involve nothing related to photography – that re-invigorated my passion for landscape and natural photography. That makes zero sense but let me explain.

As any artist or photographer knows passion ebbs and flows. I can only be at my best when I am inspired to be. This sounds like quackery to anyone who isn’t an artist or who lacks a hobby – but it’s real!

Over the past year I got caught up in athletic pursuits. I snowboarded ALOT, I hiked ALOT and i got into rock climbing. The looming age of 40 really reprioritized my life. This year I suffered a pretty major knee injury – a fully torn ACL that forced me to put a total pause on snowboarding, take it easy on the hikes and chill on the rock climbing. I’m still getting my steps in and staying active but I definitely have more time and that’s allowed me to pick up my camera again. I have been focused on mastering the art of Timelapse and Landscape Photography.

Sorry for that giant intro 🙂

Two books really inspired me during this down time:

Teddy Roosevelt Photopgrahy

The first is Mornings on Horseback – a biography of young Teddy Roosevelt. I felt inspired by his early struggles with asthma and his passion for nature. An asthmatic who is into nature and pushing their limits – sounds counterintuitive but it’s exactly what I needed. A guy with a non functioning ACL who picks up his camera again … that’s my story!

John Muir photography

Another book that picked me up when I was down and allowed me to pick up my camera again was John Muir’s biography – a Passion for Nature. His story taught me that passion does in fact ebb and flow – and much like the changing of the seasons John Muir was fond of life works with the same rhythm. John & Teddy: Two notable men who were contemporaries. Imagine living in the early 1900s — minus the racism — it must have been something else seeing nature untouched by man.

I hope you enjoyed my quasi book review – I hope to have some more thematic ones in the coming months. I’ll also take great landscape photography book suggestions!

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