There are few landscapes as varied and beautiful as Somerset. David Clensy talks to photographer Tony Howell about his passion for capturing the mood of the county

SOME people have a natural eye for beauty. They see the divine detail in the ripples of the lake, the wisps of the clouds, the line of the treetops. They stop to look at the shadows the rest of us walk through, and find a hidden magic there.

These modest visionaries always make the best photographers.

Snappers like Tony Howell, pictured right, whose landscape photography stands apart, seem to have a gift for revealing the serenity of the natural world.

His latest book, Somerset: The Glorious County, features 150 pictures celebrating the area, taking in everything from the ethereal mists of the Quantock Hills to the elegant streets of Regency Bath.

"I've always loved landscape photography," he says. "And there aren't many landscapes quite as beautiful and varied as Somerset."

The Burnham-on-Sea-based photographer says he enjoyed every moment of creating the book.

"Photography is almost like a spiritual experience for me," he says. "You get out there, and you're seeing beautiful things in the natural world right on your doorstep that never fail to amaze you.

"The publishers, Halsgrove, had seen some of my photography on my website, and were apparently impressed. They basically said whenever you want to produce a book, we'll publish it. I worked on a Bristol book first, which came out last year, and then moved on to Somerset.

"I already had 100 solid pictures of Somerset landscapes that I knew I wanted to use, but I needed 150, so it was a case of going out there and taking some shots. It had taken years to get the first 100 though, so to come up with another 50 of the same quality was no easy task.

"But Somerset is such an amazing place. The landscape is so varied and beautiful – you really never run out of places to take interesting photographs.

"To be honest, with a feature like Glastonbury Tor, for example, you could keep taking new pictures of the one place forever and it would always look different.

"It's as much about the weather and the light conditions as it is about the landscape itself."

And Tony has been out and about in all weathers as he prepared the book.

"Most people stay in when the rain comes," he says. "But my favourite sort of weather for photography is showers.

"It's perfect, because you get dramatic skies and shafts of sunshine breaking through. That can do a lot to bring a landscape to life."

Somerset: The Glorious County is published by Halsgrove, priced £14.99.