Travelling far and wide for your photos?

The majority of the earth, at least the inhabited areas must be covered by picturesque mountain lakes and rocky ocean shorelines.

Well, that’s how it would probably seem to an alien looking at landscape photography forums.

I know recognize the appeal of being able to come back with a drop dead gorgeous outdoor scene but they don’t all need to be taken near the ocean or in high alpine meadows.

The idea for this post came from a thread I read earlier today. The poster, very well known in photography circles had mentioned that he would be traveling up to the mountain parks later this winter.

I look eagerly look forward to see what he comes back with. Banff and Jasper can be spectacular in the winter and with the huge amounts of snow dropped in the last few weeks it might make up for the awful autumn colors saw this year.

I love to shoot in Jasper but my most interesting and in fact my best selling photos are not of the mountain parks, they are of the prairies. Everyone and his brother who is a serious hobbyist will shoot the oceans and mountains. Why not? With a little luck with the weather you can have dazzling images to impress your colleagues with.

The flip side of the coin is that EVERYONE else will have dazzling mountain and ocean photos. Don’t you want to be different?

The pursuit of anything artistic really is the breaking away from convention. We don’t want to look the same as our neighbor.

To do landscape photography justice you really need to be close to your subject. Being close means that you’re moments away from the changes of light that come with the weather or the time of day or even the time of the year.

If I lived in Jasper and there are times that I’d really like to, my portfolio would comprise mainly of the park. Not because it is so special but because that would be the area most accessible to me. Every hour of the day. Every day of the month and every month of the year.

Spend only a couple of weeks taking photos near the ocean you have missed almost three hundred days in the year where the landscape is different from your visit.

I like analogies because they tend to make complicated ideas very clear. Shooting in the mountains or near the ocean is like only taking the easy shot in basketball. Can you improve from that? Are you tested when you’re only throwing from under the hoop?

The shot above was taken less than five minutes from where I live, Edmonton. It’s on a secondary paved road leaving town. It’s a farm dugout in mid to late summer. Visit the dugout every day for a year and you’d be amazed at the different looks you would get. You’ll also get an education on what it is that makes a landscape photo work.

Some days, your photo would look dull and uninteresting. Other days, less so. On even fewer days, it might end up looking spectacular. The most important thing you’d learn to is recognize how light and weather can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. It’s a great skill to have when you finally do get to your landscape mecca.

My point is that if you practice your craft almost everyday near home then when you finally get to the glory spots, your photos will be that much better but maybe never as good as your home photos unless you’re lucky with the light and skies.

Happy shooting,

Dan

~ by Dan Jurak on December 12, 2009.