James Popsys (b. 1989, North Wales) is a British landscape and travel photographer based in Snowdonia, Wales. He began his career in marketing in London and Sydney before returning to Wales in 2017 to work as a full-time commercial photographer. Since then he has built a distinctive practice around landscape and travel work — Greenland, the Lofoten Islands, the Arctic, Switzerland, and the landscapes of North Wales — underpinned by a strong presence on YouTube, where his channel has accumulated several hundred thousand subscribers.
His photography is characterised by an interest in the relationship between people and the natural world: not wilderness photography in the traditional sense, but landscapes marked by human presence — pylons, bridges, roads, structures embedded in terrain. His photobook Human Nature (self-published) states the premise directly: "a study of people and our surroundings, our structures and the landscapes we build them in." He dislikes tripods, graduated filters, and waiting for golden hour — a deliberately unfashionable position for a landscape photographer — preferring images that feel encountered rather than orchestrated.
His commercial clients have included Panasonic, Samsung, Adobe, Switzerland Tourism, and Lexar. He sells prints and runs photography workshops, primarily from his base in Snowdonia.
"Shoot what you can, in a way others can't."
Camera Gear Used by James Popsys
Popsys's system has evolved significantly over the years — from Panasonic Lumix to Sony full-frame to a period with Hasselblad medium format and back to Sony. His current setup, listed on his own gear page, is Sony-based, centred on the A1 II.
Camera Bodies
Sony A1 II — his current main camera. Listed on his gear page as his primary body, the A1 II is Sony's flagship mirrorless camera: a 50-megapixel stacked BSI-CMOS sensor, up to 30fps continuous shooting, and a build quality suited to field work in demanding conditions. For a photographer who covers Arctic environments and mountain terrain without relying on a tripod, the combination of resolution and speed is a practical choice — it allows handheld shooting in difficult light without sacrificing print-worthy files.
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Hasselblad X2D 100C — formerly used, now sold. Prior to his current Sony system, Popsys shot with a Hasselblad X2D 100C — the original model, not the X2D II. He documented the camera on his YouTube channel and acknowledged selling it in a July 2026 video: "I regrettably decided to sell that camera." The X2D 100C is a 100-megapixel medium format mirrorless camera with in-body image stabilisation and Hasselblad's natural colour science — a system that offers exceptional resolution and tonal depth at the cost of a slower, more deliberate workflow than full-frame. His decision to sell it in favour of returning to Sony reflects the trade-off between medium format image quality and the practical demands of travel and adventure shooting.
He now uses a Hasselblad X2D II as mentioned in this video.
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Panasonic Lumix S5 — earlier system. Before moving to Sony and then Hasselblad, he used the Panasonic Lumix S5 as his primary camera. He was a Panasonic ambassador during this period, with the S5 featuring prominently in his YouTube content from around 2020–2022.
Lenses
Sony FE 40mm f/2.5 G — his go-to lens. Listed on his gear page as the lens he reaches for most, particularly in cities and urban environments. The 40mm f/2.5 G is compact and lightweight relative to the image quality it delivers — a fixed focal length that sits between the standard 35mm and 50mm perspectives, giving a natural field of view that works for both landscape and street-influenced work.
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Sony FE 24-50mm f/2.8 G — his current zoom. Also listed on his gear page as a primary lens, described as "about half the weight of a 24-70mm." For travel and landscape work where carrying weight matters, the 24-50mm f/2.8 G covers the focal range he uses most while remaining significantly lighter than the more common 24-70mm f/2.8 option.
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Printing
Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-2600 — his large-format printer. Listed on his gear page as the printer he uses for 24-inch roll output. The Pro-2600 uses an 11-colour LUCIA PRO pigment ink system and is capable of printing at up to 24 inches wide from rolls — the format suited to the large, luminous landscape prints he sells through his website.
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Fotospeed Platinum Etching Cotton — his preferred paper. Also confirmed on his gear page. Platinum Etching Cotton is a heavyweight matte fine art paper with a subtle texture, well suited to landscape work where the goal is a natural, non-glossy surface that reads as a print rather than a photograph.
Technique and Style
Popsys photographs landscapes and travel subjects with a deliberately non-conventional approach to light and timing. Where mainstream landscape photography is built around the golden hour — the warm, directional light of sunrise and sunset that flatters almost any scene — he actively resists it. His preference is for images made in ordinary light, in conditions most photographers would dismiss: midday, overcast, the unspectacular hours. "To stumble, in the middle of the day when most do, warts and all."
His central subject is the intersection of the human and the natural: landscapes that contain evidence of people — bridges, pylons, roads, structures — rather than wilderness from which all trace of human presence has been removed. This is not incidental. The premise of his book Human Nature is precisely that the human mark on landscape is part of what makes it worth photographing: "a study of people and our surroundings, our structures and the landscapes we build them in."
He favours a single-subject compositional approach — one element that anchors the frame — and works without tripods, graduated filters, or the elaborate technical apparatus common in landscape photography. The goal is images that feel found rather than constructed: "a portfolio full of scenes that look as though I've just stumbled across them."
His editing style has attracted attention and some debate. He favours luminosity and subtle tonality over heavy contrast and saturated colour — a quieter, more restrained look than the high-impact processing associated with much landscape photography. The approach produces images that hold up at large print scale without the aggressive tonal manipulation that tends to degrade at size.
He is consistent in one principle above all: originality over formula. "I made a promise to myself that from that moment I would never take a photo I had seen before." In a genre where certain compositions — the mountain reflected in still water, the lone tree on a ridge at sunrise — are endlessly replicated, that commitment is a genuine differentiator.
How to Shoot Like James Popsys
Stop waiting for golden hour. His most consistent position is that dependence on the golden hour is a crutch — it makes almost any scene look good, which means it also makes most images look the same. Go out in the middle of the day, in flat light, in conditions that offer no easy advantage, and find images that work without the flattery of perfect light.
Look for the human mark in natural scenes. His most distinctive images include elements that most landscape photographers would edit out or avoid: pylons, bridges, roads, signs. Try actively seeking these out rather than framing them out. A human-made structure in a natural setting creates a tension that a pure landscape often lacks.
Commit to one or two focal lengths. His working kit is compact — a 40mm and a 24-50mm zoom. Restricting your focal range forces compositional decisions rather than deferring them to the zoom ring. If you habitually carry wide, standard, and telephoto, try leaving two of those at home for a full day and see how it changes what you photograph.
Print your work, large. His investment in a 24-inch large-format printer and fine art cotton paper reflects a conviction that the work is not finished until it exists as a physical object. A print at 60×40cm or larger reveals qualities — and problems — that no screen preview shows. If you have not printed your best images at a size that demands wall space, do it once and see what changes.
Books by James Popsys
Human Nature (self-published) — His debut photobook, described as "a study of people and our surroundings, our structures and the landscapes we build them in." 124 photographs spanning his landscape and travel work, with a clothbound cover and a layout he designed and typeset himself. Available through his website as a limited edition.
Where to See James Popsys' Work
- Website and prints: jamespopsys.com — portfolio, print sales, workshop information, and blog.
- YouTube: youtube.com/@jamespopsys — his main platform, covering gear, technique, travel shoots, and photography opinion.
- Instagram: instagram.com/jamespopsys — ongoing work and behind-the-scenes.
- Stills: stills.com — 108 images available for commercial licensing.
Conclusion
James Popsys shoots with a Sony A1 II and a compact Sony prime and zoom system — the 40mm f/2.5 G and 24-50mm f/2.8 G — having previously used the Hasselblad X2D 100C before selling it in 2026. He prints large on a Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-2600 with Fotospeed Platinum Etching Cotton paper. The gear is deliberately minimal for the range of locations it covers: Snowdonia, Greenland, Lofoten, the Arctic, and wherever else the work takes him.
His approach to landscape photography is a consistent argument against the conventions of the genre: no tripod, no golden hour, no empty wilderness. Instead: ordinary light, human structures in natural settings, and images that look like they were stumbled upon. "Shoot what you can, in a way others can't."
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