Intimate Landscape Photography | Olympus 25mm and Photographing Nature’s Small Scenes

I’m back in the Thompson Okanagan and I’m very happy to be camping for a couple nights. Unlike last time the smoke has cleared out a little and it’s a beautiful day to go for a photo walk and do some intimate landscape/small scenes photography!

Intimate Landscape / Small Scenes Photography

Since the first time I came out to the Thompson Okanagan for camping in July I have been drawn, inspired by nature. Thus, in todays photo walk I was focusing more on intimate landscape/small scenes photography.

I have a different post dedicated to what Intimate Landscape Photography is which you can read here.

In short, I focus on photographing elements or characteristics of the environment. If I was at a beach it might be how the water rolls up on the sand, logs that surround the area, wildlife of that area, the patterns of the trees, etc.,

In this particular area I had noticed there were tons of different vegetation, berries, fruit, and wildflowers.

I find it interesting because back in June I visited Osoyoos (South Okanagan) and it was very dry, hot and desert-like. I live in Kelowna (Central Okanagan) which is in the middle of forested but still dry and the North Okanagan is very lush and green. It’s always something that I notice when I drive this way.

Green is definitely a characteristic of this place!

Olympus 25mm F1.8

Evening strolls like this are good for my physical and mental health and sometimes I like to bring my camera with me. When I do my lens of choice has been the 25mm, combined with my Mark II it’s small and compact. I can swing it over my shoulder and pretty much forget it’s there.

Typically, if I’m at home and I’m going for an evening stroll I will just carry my 25mm but because I was camping I had also brought with me my 12-40mm and my 40-150mm. However, all these photos were taken on the 25mm.

Photography Improvement

A tip I picked up from Sarah Marino when composing your photos is seeking balance (breaking the photo down into quarters and making sure it’s balanced). It’s a mental exercise that I’ve been trying to do to improve my photography.