Rannerdale Knotts (2/214)
As I mentioned before, it took me a while to understand the significance of the Wainwrights. So, with startlingly high confidence in my iPhone 8 and no foresight whatsoever, I set out for the Rannerdale Knotts without my DSLR. Weirdly, this ties in to my previous post about the differences, advantages and disadvantages of DSLR cameras and iPhone cameras. A common theme seems to be bubbling to the surface in these posts, almost as if I’d always planned for it..
I went looking for these photos with not a little apprehension and had a little sigh of relief when I found that they were not only utilisable, there were plenty of them as well. And where there’s plenty, there’s bound to be one or two good ones.
It makes me wonder about what makes a good photo. In the making of any creation there’s two main components: technique and artistry. One could argue that they’re both the same, but in my experience as a photographer, performer and teacher I find that though they go hand in hand, there’s a small but significant distinction. Some would call it ‘talent’ and though that’s the correct word for it, I often feel it implies artists don’t need any practice or tuition in order to create. That they wake up and are able to paint the Mona Lisa without any foreknowledge. And though some people are able to do that, I think they are very few.
I prefer calling it an aptitude. For some people things come a bit easier, as if they inherently ‘get it’. Technique can be taught, but when you have a ‘feel’ for photography, there’s just that little bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’. So does it matter that you have the newest Canon EOS 5D Mark IV if you’re not able to ‘see’ the picture in the landscape, the gear you have isn’t going to make it a good picture anyway. The technical quality of a photo is important, but is it not more important for the photo to speak to your audience, to tell a story? That being said, if the (technical) quality of the photo is so bad that it overpowers the message, what you’re trying to say gets lost anyway. Quality does matter, especially in this digital age where there’s technological advancements every day. A film that wowed you with their special effects yesterday, looks old and stuffy the next. So what’s the solution? My advice would be to try and find a happy balance. Easier said than done!
Panorama taken with iPhone 8
It’s with that thought in mind I comfort myself that it’s okay to post these clearly not-so-great-quality photos. Not only would it have really bothered me to miss a fell out that I’d walked already (did I mention I really like lists?), the technical quality isn’t so bad that it overpowers the message of the photo. The photos give a good idea of what it was like to hike the Rannerdale Knotts on that cold February day in 2019 and it’s proof an iPhone 8 can do a reasonable job at capturing the general mood of the landscape. They could be clearer and have more depth and though there’s not that much quality loss during the editing process in Adobe Lightroom, it still pales in comparison to the image quality of RAW pictures. I did find that the panoramas lost a lot of quality in some parts of the photo. I’m not sure if this is because I moved the camera too much or because the software wasn’t quite able to handle panorama photos back then, but as you can see in the photo above, the right is noticeably more blurry than the left side.
All in all I would say the iPhone 8 is a good back-up solution if you’ve forgotten your DSLR, but I wouldn’t take it instead of my big camera. I later updated to the iPhone 11 Pro Max, so I’ll be interested to keep the comparison going in the coming posts.
Click the image to download the gpx file of the walk
I have to admit I don’t remember much of the walk itself except that it was beautiful, short and easy. Looking back in my Strava I can tell you that the walk was 6.73km long, took us 1 hour and 40 minutes and we burned 624 calories. You can download the GPX file to upload the walk in your favourite walking app when you click the photo of the map.
Its a lovely walk with some great views. If you’re not a confident climber and you want to work your way up to the bigger fells, this is a perfect walk to start.
