What is a Landscape?

As a bit of research for my own benefit, I decided to see what the technical term for Landscape was.

Wikipedia "Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions."

However, Wikipedia also lists Landscape Art, in which its' definition is:

"Landscape art is the depiction in art of landscapes, natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into coherent composition."

This shows us that photography of the landscape can be under the heading of art as a landscape photograph depicts exactly as is stated in this definition.

National Geographic defines a Landscape as:

"A landscape is part of the Earths surface that can be viewed at one time from one place. It consists of the geographic features that mark, or are characteristic of, a particular area."

Interestingly, the next line on the site with the quote above states that " The term (landscape) comes from the Dutch word LANDSCHAP, the name given to paintings of the countryside". Here we see yet another commonality between landscape photography and also landscape paintings and art.

Dictionary.com has the following definitions;

"land-scape {land-skeyp}

1. a section or expanse of rural scenery, usually extensive, that can be seen from a single viewpoint.
2. a picture representing natural inland or coastal scenery.
3. Fine Arts. The category of aesthetic subject matter in which natural scenery is represented.
4. Obsolete. a panoramic view of scenery; vista."

Whilst all these examples give the universal and different meanings of what a landscape is, it is interesting that if you do a Google search on the same question, but under images instead of webpages, most of the first responses ( after you remove the geographic sketches) are of the same viewpoint as most of our preconceived images we looked at earlier. I'm greeted with striking, colourful images of extensive greenery, crisp still waters and beautiful features.

google results for what is a landscape

Then I did a search on Urban Landscapes and the difference in results was vast. We now have an equal mix of both colour and black and white images. These images are depicted with lots of lines and have a lot of symmetry. We have no dramatic skies or relaxing moods, they almost look dreary and are a lot more 'busy' in comparison to the remote settings of the rural landscapes. What I like about urban landscapes is that in darkness, some urban landscapes can really come alive. Of course it's all man made as opposed to natural beauty but lighting can almost transform an urban landscape in the dark.

google results for urban landscapes

I am really hoping to explore more urban photography during this course. It's not something that I have photographed much. Living near the coast, It's all too easy to be drawn to the beach and the sunsets over the water but i hope to be able to progress my understanding of landscape photography as a whole and find the beauty of my urban surroundings as well.