SpraggonPhotography

I’ve always found it really difficult to take interesting photos (or at least photos I find interesting) on my own doorstep. I seem to have a 3 or 4 mile radius where everything – the scenery, the buildings, the weather, the wildlife – is so familiar that I can’t find anything picturesque about it.

I was reading my copy of Joe Cornish’s First Light a while ago and he talked about the same sort of thing happening to him. He said that he often neglected his home patch for places further away. But a great point he made is that we should make more use of the scenes on our doorsteps as we know them so well and so we can ( with a little bit of imagination) make better pictures of them. Also, it’s far easier to take photos of them at the drop of a hat if the weather/light is interesting.

So, with this in mind, I decided a while ago to try and make more of the stuff that seems ‘boring’. I’d grown up seeing Glastonbury Tor virtually EVERY day and, until a couple of years ago, it was like any other hill. So I decided to get up really early on a winter’s morning and shoot the sunrise… within 4 miles of my doorstep. I came back with some amazing shots and saw the area in a different light. In fact, it didn’t feel like my doorstep anymore. My challenge now is to again shoot within a 4 mile radius (or so) but using less interesting light.

I still love that moment when I see something new and take pictures as I familiarise myself with the area. It’s like I’m recording fresh memories as I go. I often find that the first or second photo I take of a scene is the one I end up keeping. I wonder if that’s because it IS as fresh as it could be at that point.

There is another tip that Joe made in his book and that is to know the area like the back of your hand. I’ve listened to that tip with quite a few photos I’ve taken and I really consider the first time I go anywhere to be a reccie as well as an adventure. I want to shoot Durdle Door at sunrise one day but I had NO idea where to shoot it from until I went there and if I got there at 5am one day without a clue of where to go then I’d be stuffed! Same goes for bluebells – I got some photos this year but I’m not hugely impressed with them because of the light. I’ll go back to the same place next year and go right to the spot I want.

Now, does anyone know of any good poppy fields in South West England?....