Why Persistence Matters in Landscape Photography

As landscape photographers, we have all been there—tried to get a shot on many occasions and failed for one reason or another. The most frequent reason is that the weather didn’t play by the rules we had in mind; however, sometimes it does, and when it does, it makes it all worthwhile. This is my story about persistence and sticking to my guns to get the dream shot.

Pine Island on Derryclare Lough in Connemara has been one of those locations I’ve returned to over and over again. Each visit was an attempt to finally capture the image I had visualized for years, and each time, something would go wrong: too much wind, poor light, or just conditions not aligning. But I kept returning. I think it’s something most landscape photographers understand—the value in not giving up too easily. Conditions change constantly, and while the odds are rarely in your favor, you only need one good morning to make all the effort worth it.

During a one-to-one workshop in early May, I was back in Connemara. We finished our first evening at Pine Island, and I could see the forecast was starting to come together. The sky was clear, the water calm, and the moon almost full. After dropping my client back in Galway, I made the decision to return to the location. The light from the moon lit the scene enough for a shot, and with a mirror-flat lake surface and the stars visible above and reflected below, it was too good to ignore. I didn’t have a fast lens with me—just my usual 16–35mm f/4—but I made it work.

I set the alarm for 6:00 a.m., just 45 minutes before sunrise. Since I was staying in the van right there at the location, it meant I could check conditions instantly. When I opened the curtains, what I saw made me move faster than I had in a long time: flat calm water, early morning mist starting to form, and no wind in sight. Another photographer had arrived too, and while we exchanged a quick hello, I didn’t hang around—I had a job to do.

There are many compositions at Pine Island. You can stay along the shore, move higher for elevation, or work your way to the stone jetty. I headed straight to the jetty. It’s where I’ve tried many times before, and I wasn’t about to change plans now. I arrived around 35 minutes before sunrise and got the camera set up. The mist was increasing, and the early light had a faint purple cast. I started to feel that maybe this was finally going to be the time it worked out.

While the light was excellent, one thing was missing: cloud. This meant the reflections were simple and clean, and there was no chance of clouds blocking the sunrise. It also meant the image might lack a little texture in the sky, but I wasn’t going to complain.

The first few shots looked promising. The reflections were solid, the mist was building, and the light was clean. I then launched the drone to see how it looked from the air. I captured a few clips and a time-lapse. While there was very little movement in the scene due to the calm conditions, there were some light surface ripples caused by slight changes in air movement. Still, it was good material. I also took the opportunity to shoot an 11-shot panorama from the ground. It was ambitious, and although the camera was leveled, I suspect the extremes may need a bit of fixing in post.

One thing about Pine Island is the power lines. They cut right through the frame in many compositions, and I know a lot of photographers remove them in post-processing. My decision was to leave them in. I think it’s important to show the scene as it is. If someone visits after seeing a perfect, line-free image, they might be confused or disappointed. Also, in this wide pano, the lines bend slightly because of lens distortion, making it harder to remove them cleanly anyway.

As the sun started to rise, it began to backlight the mist. I switched to f/16 to try for a sunstar, and it worked. I captured a frame with the sun peeking through the trees, a strong sunstar, golden mist, and perfect reflections. It was the best version of the scene I’ve ever managed. It also hit me that some of the trees had sustained damage from winter storms. There’s no guarantee they’ll always be there. I was glad I didn’t wait another year.

I remembered a conversation from last year with Thomas Heaton and Neil Arthurs. We were at this very location discussing different angles. Tom had suggested that the best composition might be from the far side of the island. I joked at the time that it could be a great angle—if you had calm water, mist, and golden light. Which, as it turned out, I had right then and there. So I decided to give it a try.

I captured a few standard shots and a smaller three-frame pano from that side. And to be fair, it worked well. The reflections were strong, and the trees were catching the light from behind. Whether it’s a better composition is subjective. Personally, I still lean toward the stone jetty, but Tom’s suggestion definitely has merit.

The light was still good, so I sent the drone up again. This time, with the sun higher, the reflections looked even stronger. The shore and mountain lines mirrored each other almost perfectly. It was an unusual level of symmetry that I hadn’t seen from this location before. From the air, it all just clicked.

This whole morning reinforced a simple but important idea: persistence matters. If I had stopped going to this location after the third or fourth failed attempt, I wouldn’t have this image now. Landscape photography often involves making decisions without any guarantee that the conditions will be right. There’s nothing you can do to force it, but you can increase your chances just by showing up.

If there’s any takeaway here, it’s this: keep trying. If you have a location you’ve been working on for years, don’t cross it off the list too soon. Keep watching the weather, keep turning up, and be ready. Eventually, the conditions will line up. And when they do, all those previous failed attempts will make the final shot mean that much more.

Thanks for reading. You can see the final images from that morning in the full behind-the-scenes video, which is now live on my YouTube channel.

Let me know what you think in the comments.