Hiking is an outdoor activity consisting of walking in the natural environment across long distances. Its duration may vary between half-day programs and longer itineraries of some weeks. You can go hiking with a group of people or alone. Most of the time, people go hiking in mountainous or other scenic terrains.
Hiking vs walking
Hiking is a different activity from walking. Walking is an activity you can do outside, usually in an urban contest or even indoors in a gym. On the contrary, you practice hiking outdoors and along natural terrains. You also typically encounter elevation changes while hiking, differently from walking.
Hiking and landscape photography
I can’t say which is my favorite: if I prefer going to take landscape images and for this reason, I love hiking, or I like hiking, and that’s why I take landscape images. So I think they come together.
Landscape photography is the perfect excuse to go outdoors and go for a hike. You need to take landscape images out of your house and explore nature, which is excellent.
Hiking will let you discover nature and its stunning landscapes.
Gear
To do landscape photography and hiking, you will need some gear. Therefore, an essential thing is a backpack to take everything you need: water, some food, clothing, and photography gear. This list can be longer depending on whether you are hiking just for half a day or longer, for example, a few days.
The right camera for hiking depends on how much you are into photography. For example, you can take your mobile phone or a compact camera with you. Or, if you are more passionate about landscape photography, you can take an aps-c sensor camera, a full-frame, or even a medium format camera.
Usually, when I go hiking, I take my Fujifilm XT-4 with the lenses I use for landscape photography. Therefore, you can read about the lenses for landscape photography in this article. However, if I prefer to travel light, I take my Fujifilm X100V. You can read about hiking and landscape photography with the Fujifilm X100V in this article.
Observation and visualization
Observation is one essential skill you must practice while doing landscape photography. You can have the best camera and lenses on the market, but if you don’t see opportunities for your photos, you won’t take compelling landscape images. Therefore, observation is paramount to success in photography. In addition, be mindful of what’s around you. For example, hiking trips lead you to fantastic landscapes, so observation is fundamental for efficiently capturing what’s in front of your eyes.
In my mind, I visualize how a particular… sight will appear on a print. If it excites me, there is a good chance it will make a good photograph. It is an intuitive sense, an ability that comes from a lot of practice
Ansel Adams
Visualization is a conscious process of visualizing the final photograph in your mind before you even take the photo. It is about being aware of the subject, about the light and the potential of the scenario you see with your own eyes. You can find more information about the visualization process by Ansel Adams in my Beginner guide to Landscape Photography.
I think there is no better way to close this article about hiking and landscape photography than with two quotes from Into the wild by Jon Krakauer.
Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty.
Jon Krakauer, Into the wild
I read somewhere… how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong, but to feel strong… to measure yourself at least once.
Jon Krakauer, Into the wild
