Chasing Awe with Gavin Hardcastle | My Photo Bookshelf
Gavin Hardcastle is a British landscape photographer based in Canada and someone I’ve been following on YouTube for a few years. He has a unique, fun approach to his videos with a great mix of landscape photography adventures and comedic sketches which provide a welcome alternative to some of the other, more serious videos on my watchlist.
Although known on YouTube for his fun and sometimes silly videos, Gavin is still primariily a serious landscape photogtraher and he consistetly shares some quite beautiful landscape photography during his videas and that appreciation for his work resulted in my purchasing a copy of Chasing Awe with Gavin Hardcastle for my bookshelf.
Synopsis
When I was just starting out in landscape photography, I read a lot of photography books. While many of them had beautiful images, I did feel somewhat disconnected from the authors because many of the accompanying stories lacked both a personal touch and offered no technical insights. With ‘Chasing Awe with Gavin Hardcastle‘, I wanted to break that format and offer you a front-row seat to the experience of being a professional landscape photographer – warts and all.
The life of a landscape photographer isn’t always filled with rainbows and unicorns, in fact, the reality is a lot less glamorous. This book takes you into the deep and murky waters of a challenging and often dangerous obsession with the more extreme moments that Mother Nature has to offer.
My thoughts about the book
Chasing Awe has a hard, glossy cover and a reassuringly tough feel to it, which it would need, judging by Gavin’s videos, where he takes a copy along on many of his adventures across a wide range of landscapes and conditions to promote it in his usual fun, light-hearted way. It makes a great first impression.
The book opens with a foreword by Gavin’s friend and fellow landscape photographer, Adam Gibbs. That connection feels particularly fitting for me, as it was through Adam’s YouTube videos that I was first introduced to Gavin, back when they regularly travelled and photographed together before Gavin moved across the country to Canada’s east coast. I certainly miss those collaborations. The foreword touches on how they originally connected, and their close friendship comes through clearly in Adam’s playful remarks — British mickey-taking humour at its best, and very much in keeping with the overall tone of the book.
Following Adam’s foreword is a brief introduction from Gavin himself before the book dives straight into the images. Each photograph is accompanied by a backstory, all written in Gavin’s familiar, approachable style. Photo books like this work particularly well for me, as I’m always drawn to the context and stories behind the image. In this case, Gavin’s ability to convey someone who is clearly serious about their craft through these entertaining, warts-and-all tales makes reading the book a genuinely enjoyable experience.
Throughout the book, Gavin shares the highs and lows of his adventures and, where appropriate, introduces some of the advanced techniques he used to capture the final images. Even with the technical information included, I feel the balance is just right, and there’s still plenty for readers who are less interested in the technical side of photography.
I particularly appreciate the variety of landscapes Gavin presents in the book. The images span locations all over the world, from picturesque cabins nestled in snowy forests to powerful waves crashing against rugged cliffs, and majestic Canadian mountains bathed in warm golden-hour light. With such diversity, there is genuinely something to enjoy on every page.
For anyone able to get hold of a copy, I would highly recommend doing so. While the physical edition is now sold out, Chasing Awe is still available as an ebook via Gavin’s website — the link is provided below.
Book Details
Hardback Foil Stamped Cover
Size: 10.5 x 10.5 inches
Pages: 120
Availability at the time of writing: All editions of the physical book are sold out, but an e-book edition is available from Gavin Hardcastle’s website https://www.fototripper.com/store/chasing-awe-with-gavin-hardcastle-photography-ebook/
Until next time.
Trevor