this is making me really quite cross

I'm a photographer.  No, really - I am.

And I mainly take pictures of my local landscape, nature and tiny macro subjects.  And all within an hour or so of my home.  I really don't venture any further.

Anyway, lately I've been seeing videos in my YouTube feed offering photography trips to far-flung places.  Iceland, Norway, Greenland, Italy and even Antarctica.  Now, these all sound lovely, and come with a price tag to match.  But they've started to make me feel really angry.

You see, in one breath you have these photographers telling us how we must do all we can to save the planet and the polar bears.  And in the next they are advertising their exotic workshops.  Obviously getting there is going to involve some quite carbon-costly travel.  I mean, you can't cycle to Patagonia.  Well, not from here and not in time for a photo workshop you can't.

It's almost as if they're saying "save the planet folks, but not before you've bought a place on my workshop…and the next one, and the next one…"

Throughout December I'm attempting to post a video every day right up to and including Christmas Eve.

And in the very first of my "Advent Calendar" videos, I tackle this issue head on.

My feelings are quite simple.  We don't need to make trips to take pictures.  There are plenty on our doorstep to keep us occupied, and enough photographers worldwide with their own doorsteps to take pictures of.

As a group, us landscape and nature photographers should be taking a stand against unnecessary journeys, particularly air travel to take a picture.  There's simply no need to do it.  None whatsoever.

Anyway, what do you think?  Am I being unreasonable here?  Watch the video and let me know.