June 25, 2018, Peter’s Lookout, Mount Cook Road, New Zealand. Lake Pukaki is fed by the runoff of two glaciers. The fine silt in the runoff, known as glacial flour, makes the water turquoise. Take a look at satellite photos of the Southern Island and it will stick out like a turquois thumb. We stopped for a lunch break on the way to Lake Tasman and fed our stomachs and our cameras. These two photos were taken exactly an hour apart.
The first, above, looks east — straight across the lake toward Mount Dobson.
(There is a northward view in my Betterists post.)
This second shot looks southeast in the direction of Grays Hills, the Grampian Mountains, the Dalgety Range, and the Kirkliston Range.
Conventional wisdom has one put something in the foreground in landscape photography. I am not conventionally wise. Rather than attempting to create a third dimension, I was going for a two-dimensional feel. Sort of like my ocean horizons, but with landscapes. Vaguely impressionist, but not.
(Nikon D850; Tamron SP 24–70mm f/2.8 Di VC USD G2. RAW processing in DxO Pro; Editing in Adobe Photoshop.)
AMAGA Photography Blog 
I felt the emphasis on two dimensions before reading your text. I especially resonate to the horizontality of the first image and all the layers running across the lake, the land, and the sky.
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Well sir, you nailed it.
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IMHO “conventional wisdom” doesn’t apply to the landscapes of the Mackenzie and Central Otago – they’re big, wide, expansive landscapes and horizontal layers help get that perspective across to the viewer.
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Thank you Liz. I agree.
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Non-conventional is just as appropriate in photography as the other kind. If one wants to showcase a subject there are many ways to do so and the lack of a foreground doesn’t negate value. Both of these images prove that point.
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You can only depart from the conventional when you know the rules and how to break them! Beautiful photos from stunning locations.
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Yup. Rules were made to be broken but you can’t break them if you don’t know them.
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True. I tend to be a scofflaw sometimes.
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Thanks Paula. Yes indeed. See my reply to Steve Gingold.
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Thanks very much. I realized upon reflection that I tend toward the static rather than dynamic as a means of creating a calming effect. It’s a conscious decision, but I’d never named it.
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Your images give me a peaceful mind, Michael.
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Thanks very much. That is my aim. I’m glad they’re perceived that way.
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🌱
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I especially like the sense of simultaneous flows in the first image: water, land, and clouds apparently moving to the right, with the mountain as impassive observer. It reminded me of a haiku I once wrote but haven’t featured, being a little short on mountains around here:
Unmoved, the mountain
rises over human pain
waves wash and recede
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Many thanks, Linda. The clouds and the water ripples were moving to the right, in fact. This made the alternating bands of light and dark even more apparent. I saw Mount Dobson “Watching the whole thing come down in harmony” as Taj Mahal said fifty years ago.
I love your haiku.
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I totally get what you’re talking about with creating a two dimensional look, and you did it so nicely. I prefer the second shot – I think it feels even flatter, which I really like, even though it’s less symmetrical. The mountain comes forward more, the water recedes, it’s all in the same plane. 🙂
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Thanks again. I agree with you. Strange thing is, for a long time I preferred the top shot, and now I prefer the bottom shot. I’ve had a chance to live with them both a while and sometimes that’s what it takes.
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Beautiful compositions.
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Thank you.
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Looking at the photos fill me with joy and calmness. This is utterly beautiful, both scenes. It’s hard to pick a favourite, so I’ll just enjoy masterly captured landscapes.
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Thank you very much. That is the intended effect, and I am glad to see that it works. It is interesting that the top photograph was my first choice for a long time, but the second photograph has gradually crept up on me and now seems to be the favorite.
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