Re-visiting locations for perfect shot?

Vaughn · Sep 23, 2014

Agreed...it always the light at the moment for me.

Also one of the reasons I enjoy photographing in Death Valley, Yosemite and elsewhere is bringing back that experience and using it to improve my seeing in my more familiar haunts...tho both of those valleys are getting close to the point of familiarity.

Ian Grant · Sep 23, 2014

I spent a year photographing a small iron bridge over a river. It was the year I began using the Zone system and also marked a switch from MF to LF for my personal work, I'd been using LF in the studio for a decade but bought a field camera to backpack with.

I learnt a lot in that year, it waas a very useful exercise photographing in different seasons , lighting, times of day, sun, snow, fog, high winds etc.

Each time you revisit a place you can see it differently so it's definitely worthwhile.

Ian

andrew.roos · Sep 23, 2014

I made five visits to a particular rocky outcrop in a bay about an hour down the coast before I managed to make a photograph that pleased me. Three trips to the Karkloof falls for one image. Half a dozen trips to the White Mountain near Giant's Castle in the Drakensberg, and it still owes me a meaningful photo.

Vaughn · Sep 23, 2014

andrew.roos said:
...Half a dozen trips to the White Mountain near Giant's Castle in the Drakensberg, and it still owes me a meaningful photo.

Four 1-week to 11-day backpack trips down into the Grand Canyon with a 4x5 and still no GC image in my portfolio. So it goes. Being there was great!

jscott · Jul 11, 2015

Vaughn nailed it. You need to look for the light, not so much the subject matter.

I hear that pros routinely do an initial reconnaissance of a shoot area to figure out possible shots, then they return when the light is likely to be best (often first thing in the morning).

Trail Images · Jul 11, 2015

Vaughn nailed it. You need to look for the light, not so much the subject matter.

I hear that pros routinely do an initial reconnaissance of a shoot area to figure out possible shots, then they return when the light is likely to be best (often first thing in the morning).

I have been using the TPE program in conjunction with the Weather Underground ahead of every outing for several years now. It aids me in just this area of possible light angle at sunrise & sunset, as well as amount of light depending upon projected cloud cover. It's always about the light for me doing landscape photography.

Sirius Glass · Jul 11, 2015

Some times when I did not like previous results or think that I can do even better. It is not a regular occurrence since I can humbly say that I am a truly great photographer. Anyone want to buy a bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn?

RalphLambrecht · Jul 11, 2015

ToddB said:
Hey guys,

I was wondering if I'm beating a dead horse.. Have you guys re-visited locations to photograph to try to get the perfect shot? Those crazy dramatic clouds are doing their thing today, I have the urge to visit that cemetery again armed with a roll of Delta 100 120 and my Rollei.

Todd

It's not the location;it's never the location;

it's in your head.Now,put it on film!

Bill Burk · Jul 11, 2015

Trail Images said:
I have been using the TPE program in conjunction with the Weather Underground ahead of every outing for several years now. It aids me in just this area of possible light angle at sunrise & sunset, as well as amount of light depending upon projected cloud cover. It's always about the light for me doing landscape photography.

Knowing what I know about the light in the canyons. The sun doesn't spend much time in them and the angle it comes in isn't easily predicted because they are narrow and twisty. I bet the TPE program didn't help at all for your shot of Ortega Falls. Though you got some nice glowing light there.

Trail Images · Jul 11, 2015

I bet the TPE program didn't help at all for your shot of Ortega Falls. Though you got some nice glowing light there.

Bill, how right you are. That location was more of an afternoon shot for best light, although I shot it very early in the day. My reference was more to using the TPE over the last several years was more directed to my outings at Joshua Tree NP in the upper desert. I use it a lot with mostly sunrise, and yes moon settings too, around all those rock formations out there. The Ortega shot was quite some time back now.

Theo Sulphate · Jul 11, 2015

One of my self-assigned roles is that of photo-historian: I photograph places that I know will change greatly in the near future. One early evening, sitting at a stoplight about 10 minutes from home, I glanced to my left, towards an immense field, and saw this large magnificent walnut tree silhouetted against the sky. It was dramatic and an obvious photo - especially since nearby signs proclaimed the field as the site for a future medical complex.

Over the last few years I've photographed that tree in all lighting conditions and all seasons. I've used everything from a Hasselblad SWC to a Minox to digital and from every conceivable vantage point. I feel that there are an unlimited number of images I have yet to make. I'm hoping the tree is there for a very long time (no construction has started), but this is my own personal way of preserving it.

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 11, 2015

All the time.

Vaughn · Jul 11, 2015

jscott said:
Vaughn nailed it. You need to look for the light, not so much the subject matter.

I hear that pros routinely do an initial reconnaissance of a shoot area to figure out possible shots, then they return when the light is likely to be best (often first thing in the morning).

I suppose they do...but my method is just to be there and work with whatever light I am gifted (if there is light there is a possibility of making an image). Morning light means nothing special to me over any other time of the day...but then I normally do B&W. I do not scout for individual images, but wherever I go, with or without a camera, I try to connect to the light of a place. And I have passed up making a photograph if it is more enjoyable and/or enlightening to just experience the light.

Re-visiting locations for perfect shot?

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