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20.07.10
How to hunt out intriguing shots while travelling
Composition Master David Ward is an expert in finding the unusual. Here he explains the best ways to hunt out intriguing shots while travelling and offers advice on what to look for, and more importantly, when.
So, you want to photograph something unusual on your trip abroad? Well, the most important thing is to stop doing what you normally do. You need to realise that finding such things isn’t just about looking harder; it’s also about a change in attitude. The main task of landscape and travel photography is often perceived as making images to illustrate iconic places or events: the Taj Mahal, Yosemite, Il Palio, the Eiffel Tower or Venice Carnivale are just a tiny fraction of the countless examples that spring to mind. But a couple of problems spring to mind about this illustrative approach to the illustrious.
Firstly, in terms of creativity, there seems little point in redundantly reiterating what somebody else has already ‘said’ in an image by making slightly different versions of well-known happenings or locations. After almost two centuries of photography, the iconic has been well and truly worked by photographers. You can pretty much guarantee that a better photographer than you has been there in better light, with a better sky and with something extraordinary happening — oh, and that all their images are now available to view online!
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, illustration is pretty much the least interesting thing that photography can do. Of course, all photographs illustrate their subject in the sense that they are written by the light reflected from their subject. But they are capable of transcending their subject, and whether or not they do this is largely the result of how the photographer approaches the task in hand.
American photographer Gary Winogrand noted that: “Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed.” Even the most mundane things can make unusual subjects if one sets out to make images in a spirit of enquiry.
Rather than illustrating the things I have seen, I want to find out how photography might change the way the world looks. With this approach, I hope that my images might make the viewer work a little to think about what is portrayed and consequently cast a new light on their subject. When I visit a well-known place, such as Yellowstone, I don’t feel the need to achieve a specific target, to tick a box and say that I have photographed ‘Old Faithful’ for instance. This lack of a goal might seem wilfully difficult in a genre that could (ironically!) adopt ‘Location, location, location!’ as its motto. There is often a heavy weight of expectation on photographers’ shoulders; they feel duty bound to make the classic images so as not to disappoint the folks back home.
Indeed, in the past, I too have been guilty of this desire to appease after receiving comments such as: “You went to Yellowstone and photographed a puddle?!” But if the art of photography is truly your passion, you shouldn’t be afraid to come back without the iconic shot. It’s a mistake to think that a good travel photograph is simply a recognisable photograph of somewhere well known. A good photograph is one that surprises, intrigues or moves the viewer. It doesn’t have to be somewhere famous to do that; in fact, somewhere anonymous may well be better.
So, down to the nitty-gritty. How might one find these unusual views or subjects?
Firstly, I’ve said this before — but I’ll say it again! Try to look with the eyes of a child. The British photographer Bill Brandt said: “Most of us look at a thing and believe we have seen it, yet what we see is often only what our prejudices tell us to expect to see, or what our past experience tells us should be seen, or what our desire wants to see. Very rarely are we able to free our minds of thoughts and emotions, and just see for the simple pleasure of seeing. And so long as we fail to do this, so long will the essence of things be hidden from us.” Have you ever had the experience of looking at a word so long that it doesn’t look like the word anymore, just a series of random letters? That’s how you need to approach making images; really look until you see things for what they are or until the little wonders in the everyday are revealed.
Secondly, try not to travel with the expectation of making a particular image. Expectations can limit the scope of what you see. Dorothea Lange, the great American documentary photographer, believed that “to know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your preconceptions, which is very limiting.” Wandering with a receptive mind makes one open to new and different opportunities from one’s normal repertoire. Planning can make one stick to tried-and-tested methods of achieving a satisfying result, remaining within one’s comfort zone. With this in mind, try not to look at photographs of where you’re going beforehand.
Having seen an image, it’s all too easy to subconsciously feel that a view is ‘right’ when it’s encountered for real. When searching for the unusual, you should feel in an unknown land.
Finally, work your subject. Try to delay releasing the shutter as long as possible. Composition in photography is about solving a four-dimensional puzzle. Unlike most puzzles, there isn’t a single solution; in fact, there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of workable solutions whenever one attempts to make a photograph. Most of them are very similar but a few are radically different. The longer you take to pick a solution, the more likely you are to find an unusual or exciting composition. All the time you are reaching for a solution think about what would make this image unusual; a different viewpoint, a longer or shorter lens, a different time of day, softer or harder light, and so on.
How do you find the ‘unusual’? Be receptive, take your time and use all your photographic craft. The ‘unusual’ is all around us; it’s not a question of geographic location, more a question of being in the right place in your mind.
David’s Kit Bag
Linhof Technikardan 5 x 4 Five lenses — 28-135mm in full-frame DSLR Lee filters set ND grads from 0.3 to 0.9 with half-point increments in between 110 polarising filter Cable release Gitzo tripod with Manfrotto 410 head Light meter Swap meter Paramo dark cloth Double Dark Slide Linhof Universal Finder Kneeling mats Lowepro 600 AW rucksack
David’s Word’s of Wisdom
"Settle into a place.When you get to somewhere new, try to resist the temptation to start taking images immediately.Sit down and take in the atmosphere.A lot of the time, what you need to do is try to connect with where you are, especially if it is strange to you.It’s better to be somewhere for a while and to take it in, because then you are likely to start seeing interesting compositions.”
Biography: David Ward
David Ward is one of Britain’s most accomplished large-format photographers, as well as a published writer and successful course workshop leader for Light & Land. He is also well known for his knowledge and humourous, accessible manner. For more David's views on photography, check his regular column F Stop.
This feature is from the June 2010 issue
Back issues can be ordered by calling 01858 438840 or by sending an email to photographymonthly@subscription.co.uk
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