If I waited until I was in a photogenic place,

[Steve Mack]

...I would never get any photographs. I live in a photographically dead (to first appearances) part of the world. Specifically, I live in the woods in Buckingham County, Virginia.

Buckingham County is in central Virginia, is economically depressed, and while it is moderately hilly in spots, it is by no stretch what one would call photogenic. But I have found that if I apply myself, I can find heaps and heaps of subjects within easy driving (or walking) distance. Especially intriguing for me are the many abandoned farms and houses in the county. They have histories, and AFAIK, no one has taken the time to photograph them.

Then, there is Buckingham, the county seat, and Dillwyn. Both are the kind of place that you move away from when you are young, and and if you take the time to look, there are heaps and heaps of photo ops there, too.

Take a walk in the woods, and I think you could go through about a bizillion rolls of film in one mile of trail, if you look.

My point, probably belabored to death elsewhere, is that anywhere you are is a great place to get some photo ops if you apply yourself, and look. As Yogi Berra once said, you can see a lot by looking.

Anyway, take a look around you, and work those photo ops. Then when you get to Timbuktu, you will be ready for it.

Here endeth the lesson.

With best regards,

Steve Mack

The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he could learn in no other way. Mark Twain

 

[Lopaka]

Well said, Steve. Thanks for posting this - a nice review on the art of seeing.

Bob

 

[toadhall]

Valid points, Steve.
I've driven by the property of a neighbour for several years, and while I have stopped several times to study the light on the aspens closest to the road, I never bothered to investigate in the trees. Until this year. It has now become one of my favourite places because it is quite open (meaning uncluttered) beneath the trees, and early in the morning, it has great light as the sun filters past leaf and trunk. In the winter, the trunks provide great linear shadows across the snow.
The moral? Never assume something isn't worth photographing until you've actually tried it.

 

[BWKate]

So true!!! It's all about looking. There are photo ops everywhere you open your eyes and really see. Sometimes going away from where you live is a good thing because when you come back you can see with fresh eyes.