It seems that a growing trend in landscape photography is to include people in and amongst the scene. Many times, photographer’s use these sometimes-silhouetted people to show scale, create drama or tell a story. Sometimes adding a person to a shot can give the image a focal point or fill an empty space within the image. Then there are other folks that aspire to capture their landscape images free of any single person. They go to great lengths not to include any hint of mankind. They wait for hours, use extra-long exposures, or hike out to remote locations just to avoid people in their shots.
I was wondering how you feel about including people in your landscape images. Is this something that generally appeals to you or are you of the thought that people ruin the shot? Would love to hear your thoughts. Do the people add or subtract to landscape images. Do you compose your shots looking to put a person in the shot? Or do you wait till everyone is out of the scene before pressing the shutter? Just curious…
“Tiny Dancer”
Paul McKenzie posed with flashlight-Namibia