I have found myself at loggerheads with many friends over the past few years. We live in divisive times. I now believe that: ‘you cannot change someone’s mind’. All you can do, is leave them with what you want to present to them, and hope that they might follow it up.

In my view, pressing harder your point of view, just increases the resistance from whomever you wish to convince of your point of view.

In artistic terms, this is why I do not believe in pushing my work too much. I think that by trying to force your work upon folks who are either not into what you do, or are just simply not ready: you are just putting them off.

An analogy to this, is that I am a big fan of the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Their music in my opinion is an acquired taste. It is not for everyone, and for a few years, it wasn't for me either. I had several friends try to show me the right way, to enlighten me. Their efforts failed. Instead, what had to happen, was that had to find them in my own time.

It took about 2 years of a slow ‘drip-feed’ of finding their music in car adverts and on the radio.

It had to happen in my own time. When I was ready.

What I love about the landscape is that it doesn’t care what you or I think. It’s not even aware. Landscapes are confident in being themselves. You can take them or leave them, but no matter what you think - nothing is going to change for them. They just ‘are’.

So, when we come away from a place and say ‘I didn’t like it’, or ‘there was nothing there to photograph’, what we are doing is placing our own expectations or judgement upon the landscape. If we have a great time, we think the landscape is great. If we have a bad time, we think the landscape has nothing to offer.

The landscape doesn’t care.

It really doesn’t.

It has eternity to deal with. The least thing it has to worry about, is what we thought of it,.

The landscape just ‘is’.

And the sooner we realise it, the better. Landscapes are much older, wiser and constant than we are.