Collected Musings of a Hill Wanderer

I have recently started to catch up with my collection of unread photography magazines. I still limit myself to three per month and subscribe to two of these. The limitation is partly for the usual financial reasons and partly because there is only so many that you need anyway. I used to acquire Amateur Photographer every week but that stopped about a year ago because I felt that the monthly titles were sufficient. I also cannot justify buying digital photography magazines, or digital photography books for that matter, when the main titles cover both digital and film photography anyhow. These include Photography Monthly and Practical Photography but I have seen some sharp comments in the ePHOTOzine forums about the similarity in their content and the prevalence of landscape photography in their pages. There was a time when I stopped buying the former when it became too formulaic but the arrival of Will Cheung, ironically from PP, brought me back into the fold. These days, I find PM to be the more substantial of the two with plenty of meatier content. Landscape photography floats my photographic boat so it should not surprise you to read that Outdoor Photography is another of my staples. It started out life dedicated to landscape and wildlife photography but has since been extended to encompass travel photography. Now, what I really need to do is slow down, use a tripod and take my photography beyond the level at which it is at the moment.

My heading home to Ireland for a few days allowed me to catch up on my outdoor reading while on my travels (and in between the work needing to be done at my parent’s) and an odd thought struck me. Outdoor magazines like TGO, Walking World Ireland and Outdoor Photography do feature articles on the environment but suggestions as to public transport options for getting to locations for photography or walking do not get the mentions that I feel they should. Admittedly, Trail and Country Walking are better for this while TGO does try as well. One assumption might be that public transport is not up to the task and that is a point when you head off the beaten track, especially in Ireland. Another valid point is that public transport does not run according to the demands of landscape photography, for which the extremes of the day are best. However, I suspect that car-using writers simply do not get to mentioning other options for whatever reason. I have lost count of the numbers that I have seen the Traveline phone number, which to my mind suggests a certain lack of application. Maybe we need to make the point to them?