Picture This

Through the Lens of Laurence Parent

Top landscape photographer shares the secrets of his craft.

by Earl Nottingham

If you’ve admired the scenic photography in Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine, then you have undoubtedly paused in wonder to marvel at striking images created by Laurence Parent. In fact, when asked what makes a good landscape shot, I often point to Laurence’s work as prime examples of the elements needed to create a photograph that jumps off the page to capture the reader’s attention.

I recently interviewed Laurence about his journey to becoming a professional photographer. He offered some great advice for those considering a career in outdoor photography or those who just want to improve their vacation photos.

Where did you get your appreciation for the outdoors?

Because my dad was a park ranger, I mostly grew up in national parks and monuments. The experience of growing up hiking, camping and playing in nature in those areas had more influence than I thought and ultimately led to my love of photographing and writing about the outdoors. 

What was your path to becoming a photographer?

There was no path! It was totally accidental. I was a petroleum engineer in 1981. A friend and I owned a very small oil company during one of the industry’s regular busts. While out in the field on jobs I would often photograph oilfield operations. Eventually some of those photos ended up on the covers of Oil & Gas Journal and other industry publications. I gradually started contributing photos and stories to Texas Highways, Texas Parks & Wildlife, New Mexico Magazine and others. Eventually, I was making as much money from photography and writing as from the oil business and shifted full time to photography and writing.

What equipment do you use?  

I currently use Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras and lenses. However, for many years I used primarily a 4x5 film camera with color transparency film. It was heavy and slow but created images of incredible resolution and quality. My first digital camera was a full-frame Canon 5D with 13-megapixel resolution. It didn’t completely replace the 4x5 view camera, but when the Canon 5D Mark II came out with its 21-megapixel resolution and better low-light performance, I finally shifted over to shooting fully digital. Another incentive to change was that more and more clients were wanting only digital files. Scanning film and creating a digital file of traditional film is slow and tedious.

What projects are you working on? 

I completed a revision of my Hiking Texas book, a Falcon Guide, a year ago with a shift to full-color photography and lots of new and updated hikes. Currently I am revising my Hiking Big Bend book by doing lots of hiking and new photography at the national park and at Big Bend Ranch State Park.

Any advice for someone interested in a photographic career? 

Keep your day job! It’s always been a hard business to break into, but with the advent of digital photography and the internet, it’s gotten much harder. The supply of photos has grown immensely, while the demand has shrunk with fewer magazines, books and calendars being produced. Because the editorial market has become much harder, I have moved more into commercial work, where the client wants custom imagery. I still love landscape and outdoor sports photography and continue to do it for many magazines, calendars and books, but it produces a smaller part of my income.

Finally, can you share one secret to getting a great photograph? 

Patience! I try to find a scene that I like and then wait for the right light and sky or come back multiple times until I finally get the light and sky I want. I particularly like to get photographs of places and compositions that have not been shot much or at all.