Smaller Details Will Make Your Photography Stand Out
This past Saturday I got up early to get out before the sun came in the hopes of catching a beautiful sunrise. I say in the hopes because this was a scouting trip and I never plan to come back with anything when so much is left to chance and I am not familiar with a new location.
Some people like to plan their trips and outings so that they know exactly what they are shooting and when so no time is wasted. But for me, my art has more of a life to it than being reduced down to a simple laundry list of locations and compositions that we see all the time on social media. When I shoot I like to listen to my gut and let my curiosity guide my lens vs others photography and the expectation of a perfect shot.
A lot of photography today seems to be replications of famous photos or imitation of those we follow on Instagram so a big challenge for modern professionals is how do we keep it new, exciting and interesting. Everything in this world has already been photographed. There is no landscape we have not seen and some far off local that we have not already been through a dozen times. You can follow the trends only so long before you just keep repeating the same old cycle of images over and over.
So instead of planning a trip, I leave it up to my curiosity and ability to think and move on my feet. My eye tends to look at the smaller compositions, pleasing objects, and geometry in the scene than the overall grandeur that landscapes can provide. Sure I still get taken back by the beauty a mountain range holds but I try to think how I can break it down into more meaningful and unique compositions that make you stop and think.
On this specific trip right out of the parking lot, there was a wonderful man-made damn with a frozen spillway and rushing water under the ice. It was a beautiful winter scene that anyone can see if they looked up the trail online. However, there was a very interesting rock formation that had been split right down the middle almost like a pistachio shell cracking open. The issue was the surrounding scene was horrendous to look at. Lots of messy dead plants with a frozen and cold looking creek below. It was a tough shot and to draw the user through the image like my eye drew my attention would be a big challenge.
I dropped my camera in the snow, kicked about two handfuls of the powder into my back and dropped my ND filter more times than I can count. I lost time as the sun rose and the shot was just frustrating me to the point I was ready to call it. But I cleaned everything up, shrugged my shoulders at the rising sun and took a handful of shots with varying compositions before I felt like I had something I could work with.
Once home and after sitting with the shot for a few hours I was able to create something I was really happy with. Despite the harsher elements of the photo and the time of year, I was able to really come up with a cool composition that I feel draws you through it the way I was drawn through it in the field. It's important to make sure we stop and take a step back from our photography sometimes. The obvious is not always the best and when you give your compositions more time and effort you will come away with more meaningful photography. More meaningful photos that are taken with intention is something we all could use a little more of in the age of accessibility to photography.
