Finding your own locations vs shooting 'well known' compositions

Tom Pinchenzo

Tom Pinchenzo

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Tom
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I've always thought that shooting established locations and using photography guide books was sort of cheating and finding your own compositions was part of the fun. But recently I've had second thoughts. I've bought 'Photographing Devon and Cornwall' (where I live) and am planning on visiting some of the locations. I've also searched on flickr and other photography sites for Devon and Dartmoor and found some good looking locations.

My justification is that I have pretty limited time for photography with a wee baby and finding interesting things to shoot is the most time consuming thing (also I've noticed that many professional landscape photographers' portfolios are filled with 'well known' locations!). It seems to be the way of getting great shots with minimal time commitment...

I wondered what people's view on this was??
 
I have nothing against people who use guide books as an aid to shooting. I haven't used guide books but have shot plenty of well known areas but prefer to find my own, usually from local knowledge or maps. However, I'm retired and therefore do not have the same time pressures of others.

Horses for courses.

Dave
 
Maybe it depends to some extent on whether you feel that you might have something original to say through your images?

Why do you make photographs?

In the case of landscape, what does it mean to you? What's your relationship with it? Have you any sense of making discoveries and seeing a possibility of communicating them?
 
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droj said:
Maybe it depends to some extent on whether you feel that you might have something original to say through your images?

Why do you make photographs?

In the case of landscape, what does it mean to you? What's your relationship with it? Have you any sense of making discoveries and seeing a possibility of communicating them?
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At the moment my aim is simply to make good photos - by good I mean we’ll composed, impactful etc. When I’m at that stage I think self-expression and originality will become more important.
 
I like trying to shoot well know locations and try capture them from a different angle. Having a family though I tend not to have much time to get to these locations so I'm usually out walking in my local area looking for compositions. I find guidebooks useful if visiting a new area
 
Go to the locations in the books, but point the camera in a different direction.


Steve.
 
I'm the author of the North Wales version of those books... the intention of them isn't to dictate to people what photograph they must take, far from it. They're written to make it easy for people to find photogenic locations and to just give people something to think about regarding composition when they arrive, they're not definitive.

They also deliberately include locations which are off the normal tourist track and need a little more effort to get to, these especially are far less visited anyway so provide seldom seen photo opportunities. It's easy to avoid taking the same photos as in the books, although they do often include that "classic" shot which you might want for your collection.

Personally, despite spending most of my time around North Wales with the camera over the last 10yrs, I've yet to run out of new photo opportunities and places I haven't photographed yet so even with a book in hand it's still easy to wander away from the popular views.

Simon
 
I think a lot of people go to the honey pot locations for easy wins and a bit of confidence boosting. There is nothing wrong with that.

I quite enjoy staying fairly local and really working locations hard, getting to know them well and anticipating what kind of conditions or time of year will be good to go back in.

It does also depend what your purpose is, if it is to get likes on social media (again nothing wrong with that) then the honey pot locations are probably great for that. If it's just for personal enjoyment then do what you enjoy, I understand the frustration of going somewhere unremarkable and coming away with nothing.
 
I prefer finding my own compositions in areas that mean something to me, but don't mind shooting the odd honeypot if conditions are great, and if I feel a connection to the place.

It always amazes me when visiting national parks how tens of people can be shooting the same thing when there's endless possibilities in quieter spots that aren't hard to get to, but require a bit of scouting and inquisitiveness. The guidebooks are great for helping you get to know areas but where is the connection to the landscape for people that turn up without bothering to get a feel for a place, take the shot and leave?

I'm questioning now whether it's right for us to share locations, we seem to be conditioned into helping others in that way but we could actually be contributing to destruction of habitats when other people might not have the same 'leave no trace' standards we should all have.
 
Nothing worse than finding that perfect spot, getting the tripod out only to find a load of holes in the ground where previous tripods have sat. That’s when I move on.
 
Scirocco_09 said:
I prefer finding my own compositions in areas that mean something to me, but don't mind shooting the odd honeypot if conditions are great, and if I feel a connection to the place.

It always amazes me when visiting national parks how tens of people can be shooting the same thing when there's endless possibilities in quieter spots that aren't hard to get to, but require a bit of scouting and inquisitiveness.
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Most of my shooting/our outings are local areas & woodlands etc We have seen some beautiful scenes. Amazing weather. Autumn colours. Mist. Deer....... We have a few 'favourite' areas all within 30 minutes :) Feelings & connections :)

Take the Brecon's. ..... We were going to climb Pen y Fan, because... well you have to right?? We still haven't. Last time we climbed Craig Cerrig Gleisiad - 5 hour hike all in & we saw about 7 people in that time. Much better than playing follow the leader on the PyF footpath!!
 
While many locations have been done to death (and beyond!), there's no harm in shooting them for your own enjoyment. Even where there are almost permanent tripod holes, you will almost certainly get something different, even if it's just the cloud formations!

Nothing stopping you from using guide books etc. to find potential sites and even using the same viewpoints but I'd be another to suggest using them as a starting point and moving around the tor, bridge etc. to put your own stamp on the scene (although the chances are that others will have shots from most decent view points on the moors!)
 
For me the attraction of landscape photography is being out in the countryside. Both for the thrill of being in stunning places in dramatic conditions and the challenge of trying to capture that atmosphere in my images... whether anyone else has already photographed it doesn't take away from that enjoyment.

That said, as a viewer, images that are of very familiar scenes don't grab my attention as much as those that Ive never seen before.
 
I do use the guide books for ideas,. Last year I had a spare day in the lake district area and used the Fotovue guide to get me into a couple of locations I was not familiar with. (Fells foot park and Gummers How).

I could of walked up any of the fells and may of been lucky but using the book I used the limited time I had more effectively.

I do intend to purchase Justin Minns book on "Photographing East Anglia" to see if there a some different views on a more local area.

https://www.justinminns.co.uk/books/photographing-east-anglia
 
Living in London it's sometimes hard to find places that's not already photographed a million times over. So I try to do my own twist of those with various degrees of success.
 
LeeRatters said:
Most of my shooting/our outings are local areas & woodlands etc We have seen some beautiful scenes. Amazing weather. Autumn colours. Mist. Deer....... We have a few 'favourite' areas all within 30 minutes :) Feelings & connections :)

Take the Brecon's. ..... We were going to climb Pen y Fan, because... well you have to right?? We still haven't. Last time we climbed Craig Cerrig Gleisiad - 5 hour hike all in & we saw about 7 people in that time. Much better than playing follow the leader on the PyF footpath!!
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Fan Fawr the other side of the road is a nice usually quiet walk compared to the fan, unless you start really early.
 
On my most recent trip to the Lakes, and first at that, I bought the fotovue book and used it as a guide, without it I really wouldn't have known where to go and what to shoot really.

Some of the locations on it like the Duke of Portland Boathouse there aren't really any other compositions for that place other than what you see... but when at a location or walking to and from I like to shoot what I see with my own imagination so I come away with some shots with classic compositions but I also come away with compositions of the same places which are quite different to the classic ones as well.

And then just walking around I might see something on the way to a location which looks great... clouds swirling around a non classic mountain shot and then you can add versatility and uniqueness even more by choosing different focal lengths etc.

The conditions will also always be unique to you, no matter whether the composition has been done before the light and mood will pretty much be different on the basis that you can't get exactly the same light as any other time.
 
latestarter said:
Nothing worse than finding that perfect spot, getting the tripod out only to find a load of holes in the ground where previous tripods have sat. That’s when I move on.
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Doesn't bother me - it used to but I feel now that every take is different and no two days are the same nor is processing. I go to a mix of just me spots, well known ones and sort of known ones both at home and away.
 
You don’t have to justify yourself Tom, it’s the pressure of time that imposes certain constraints upon you, even more so with your little one to care for.
I used to work all hours god sent and yes I discovered many eunique locations for myself while walking, but never felt forfilled from the photography aspect unless I’d taken the camera out of the bag. I’d love to know how many M.P.P. My camera has done (Miles Per Photo). The rat race of life today tends to put certain constraints upon us, so you have to use that time ‘allotted’ for photography wisely.
If you add to that a location perhaps you are not familiar with, if you want to maximise your photography time why not use a guide, there’s no shame in that!
Now to the tripod holes argument, well have you ever tried to replicate a shot? It’s a good experiment! Weather, Light, Season before you even get onto the aspects of perspective, angles, focal length it’s pretty infinite. Of course the naysayers will say it’s easy to replicate a shot. Maybe if you live on the doorstep of the location, yes you can produce simular never the same. The important thing is it’s YOUR shot no one else’s, even if it’s been done to death you might just get that different angle or light.
Enjoy that’s the main thing!
 
My take, as a publisher of photo-location guidebooks. There is no versus. Personally I visit locations that are classic and have been photographed thousands of times, then also I follow my nose and explore to find the less frequented views or compositions.

All the best,

Mick
 
Bristol has a few of my tripod holes yet most images are very distinct and unique. Considering the place is photographed million times a year - mainly phones - the competition really is irrelevant. Getty has almost nothing on the subject matter and part of it is mine (I gave them crappy ones)
 
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