How are you going to shoot more this year?
I imagine some of you have made a new year's resolution where you've promised yourself that you are going to get out and more photography. You might find yourself saying this sort of thing every year, but the reality is life gets busy. I know, I have a full-time job, a family that I enjoy spending time with and all the other commitments and challenges that life throws at me.
When I asked you earlier in the year what your most significant challenge was with landscape photography, one of the most common responses was, "finding time to get out", so that's what we are going to deal with here. Hopefully, I can help you find ways to get out and shoot more landscape images.
Landscape photography is important to me, I love the creative side of it, and I enjoy getting out and exploring the outdoors, not to mention:
The physical benefits of hiking and moving around, - The social benefits with the connections I make and, of course,
The mindfulness I get by just being in the moment.
Despite all of these benefits, I find that I sometimes haven't been out as much as I'd like to. As I said before, there are good reasons why this might be the case. There are some important commitments we all have that need our time. However, I think there are things we can do to create or maximise how often we can get out and shoot.
I think there are two aspects to this problem:
Not Finding opportunities to get away for some photography. When this happens, I usually hear myself saying things like, "I just haven't found the time to get out" or "I've been so busy lately". Most the time I just haven't planned anything. With a little planning, I can create a chance to go shooting.
The other aspect is motivation. When I hear myself saying, "I'm just too tired to get out today" or "I didn't think the light was going to be any good this evening" These are just excuses that are covering up a lack of motivation.
I've got a bunch of ideas to share with you about keeping motivated, but first, let's quickly cover planning or find your photography opportunities.
PLANNING
Photography Trip
This first idea is a little obvious, but I thought I'd mention it anyway, one way of creating an opportunity is to plan a photography trip. If you don't plan it, it's not going to happen by itself.
The advantage of a photography trip is:
The entire time can be dedicated to your photography,
It's a chance to immerse yourself in the creative process, so you're totally focused on capturing landscape images.
Photography Workshop
If you aren't into all that organising, or you don't have time to plan, then an easy solution is to book a photography workshop where everything has been worked out for you. Plus the bonus with a workshop is it's lead by a photographer that can help you with your photography, so you're getting to most out of the time your spending away.
There are plenty of workshops around, but in the interest of self-promotion, I have a few places left on my Tasmania workshop and Karijini workshop coming up later this year.
Tasmania Landscape Photography Workshop 2020 (AUGUST)- https://andrewmarr.com.au/tasmania-winter-2020
Karijini Landscape Photography Workshop 2020 (MAY) - https://andrewmarr.com.au/karijini-2020
Existing Trip
Getting out for a shoot potentially only needs to be for an hour or two. Therefore if I'm already going away for work or on a family trip, I plan some time to get away with my camera.
I have done this plenty of times, some quick tips are:
If it's a work trip, I try and extend it a day or two, so I've got some dedicated time,
If I can back the trip onto a weekend, that's even better.
If I'm away with friends or family, I tend to try and get away for a few hours early in the morning, so I'm not impacting the rest of the group with which I'm travelling. Not only is the light beautiful in the morning but usually there's less wind compared to the evenings.
I've also found it really helpful to do some research:
Work out the terrain on Google Earth,
Plan how I'm going to get there and where to park,
Use weather apps find out what the conditions might be like,
Get on Instagram to take a look at where I can shoot and even plan the sorts of images I'll want to capture, so I can maximise my time as well as sort out what gear, particularly lenses, I want to take with me, so I'm not bringing everything.
Remember this is about maximising the limited time and opportunity you might have.
Work Around Your Day Job (Weekends, Before and After Work)
With working full-time, I've needed to work around my day job to find times to fit in my photography. Luckily I don't work when the sun is rising or setting, so I plan shoots before and after work when I've got the best light. Living on the west coast, we enjoy the sun setting over the ocean, so I find after work is better.
Weekends can be useful for short trips, plus I'm lucky enough to work flexible hours so I can sometimes arrange a Friday off to create a long weekend so I can fit photography in around catching up with family.
Shoot Local
There are so many benefits to shooting locally. These places should become familiar to you, the more you visit them. You build a connection with locations that allow you to capture images that tell a unique story, as you understand how these locations look under different conditions. However, one of the most significant benefits is the fact they are local. It doesn't take too long to get out for a few shots. So definitely plan to visit local photography locations.
My local spot is Burns Beach, just down the road and it where I practised and learned most of my photography skills.
Burns Beach Sunset
MOTIVATION
So that's planning, but it's only part of the equation, that other part is motivation. This is what I really wanted to talk about! I used to find myself saying things like, "I won't go now the light doesn't look great", or "I'll go next weekend when I've sorted out my gear and charged those batteries", but these are just excuses. I've done all the hard work in finding an opportunity, only to not see it through because of a lack of motivation.
What's worked for me to get around this is to identify the excuses and remove them and create situations that encourage me to get out more.
Be Organised
First up, get yourself organised:
Get your camera gear ready and packed in your camera bag,
I have a charging station where it's easy for me to charge up my batteries.
I get into the habit of cleaning my gear when I get home from my previous shoot.
So at a moments notice I can grab my camera bag and I'm ready. I even go to the extend of having a set of clothes set aside. Remember, I want to remove the excuse that I'm not quite ready!
Stop Waiting for the Perfect Conditions
Stop waiting for the perfect conditions, I've heard it referred to as being a "Light Snob". This might happen when I have a specific image in mind, and I don't think I can achieve it with the current conditions. When I find that I'm starting to talk myself out of going, I try and turn it around.
First, I remind myself of the value I get from going out and shooting, the physical benefits and the chance to relax and enjoy the moments outdoors. I don't need perfect conditions for that.
Then, I find a focus that encourages me to get out. Something I want to try out or some sort of experiment. Something small that might only require one or two shots.
You could focus on:
Something to do with gear like trying out a new remote shutter cable or that ND filter,
A setting on the camera like experimenting with the time-lapse mode,
Anything creative like taking all your shots with an exaggerated foreground, or
Something as simple as scouting out a new area or composition that you could come back to later.
The strategy here is to find something small and achievable to focus on that gets me out. Once I'm out at a location, the rest will take care of itself, and I find that I often stay and shoot for hours. The reality is, I only needed those perfect conditions for that image I had in mind, once I'm on location I can work with the conditions I have and capture images I hadn't even planned.
Start a Project
Next, the idea is to start a Project. Part of the reason why I started this Youtube Channel was as a project to would encourage me to get out and shoot more. Of course, you don't have to start a channel. There are lots of different projects that could result in you shooting more, like:
Shooting a specific location in each of the four seasons,
Shooting an area at different times of the day,
I've seen projects where a photographer has shot the same location on their way to work every day for a year. They got to know the area well and how the light interacted in the environment, or
Picking a particular subject to shoot as I did a few years ago when I focused on capturing waves off the coast.
If you are currently involved in a project or got an idea for one, share it in the comments below.
Not only are Projects a great way to encourage you to shoot more, but they help you develop your photography under conditions you might not usually shoot.
Set up a Challenge
A similar idea to projects is to set up a challenge. Restricting some aspect of your photography, not only gives you a focus for your next photography trip but also creates a situation where you have to think differently, which is a great way to encourage your creativity.
So common challenges I've seen are:
Only shooting at a specific focal length, say 50mm or 100mm,
Restricting yourself to 12 or 24 shots, You could extend this to be even more like the film days and turning off the LCD screen on the back of the camera so you can't check your shot until your back home,
Next time you're out, only shoot a particular aspect ratio like panorama, portrait or square crop, or
You could lock in the shutter speed to capture your images, like 1 second. To make it harder by not using a tripod and removing any image stabilisation.
Again, if you have an interesting challenge scenario that you'd like to share, add it to your comment below.
Go Shooting with Someone Else
These challenges can be fun to do with someone else, but just organising to go and shoot with someone else can be motivation enough. Similar to building a habit of exercise, if you involve someone else in the process, you aren't just letting yourself down if you decide not to go, but you are letting down the other person.
Therefore you are more likely to get out as you'll be encouraging each other.
Join a Camera Club
If you don't know anyone that's into photography, a good alternative is to join your local camera club, where not only are you mixing with like-minded people. Most camera clubs organise regular photography trips which are a great way to increase your chances to shoot.
There are even camera clubs online that support each other through Facebook communities.
As I said before these suggestions are all about, removing excuses not to get out and creating situations that encourage you to shoot more.
Because shooting more often is the best and most effective way to improve your Landscape Photography.
Of course, with all this extra photography, you're going to be doing this year, you'll need somewhere to share those images. There is no better place to share your photos than your website your part of the internet. I use Squarespace to build my website and have done for years because it's so easy to use.
Get 10% off your first purchase at Squarespace and go to http://www.squarespace.com/andrewmarr Or use the discount code - ANDREWMARR
I hope some of these ideas were helpful. What are your plans for your photography in 2020? I'd love you to share them in the comments below.
I hope your year is full of landscape photography.
12 Tips to get you out and shoot more