One of the challenges of photographing well-known locations is the fact that you have to work harder to get an original shot. Everyone tends to take the same old view of tourist landmarks, you have to put a little effort in to get something you can call your own.
The image shown here is one I took at Bamburgh Castle in the North East of England near Newcastle. Everyone goes here and takes the same old pictures of the castle and I wanted something special. I had done my research. From viewing others paintings and photographs and speaking to family I knew there was a great coastline begging to be included if only people would give it the attention it deserves. So I thought hard about the picture I wanted to take even before going up.
The idea (no matter how successful) is that people will see the foreground dominating but on closer inspection their eye will be led to the horizon and therefore the castle. Switching priorities on the classic pictures of the scene where the castle dominates (of course I also took some of those, what do you take me for, I am a tourist after all! heh).
Next time you are at a place where you think there is potential for a good shot don’t just hold the camera up to your eye and fire off. Move around, point up and down, try portrait and landscape orientations. Get up high or down low. Move to the right and left, try to include foreground interest like I did with the rock formation, or perhaps use trees or walls to frame. One of the things I liked in these rocks were the grooves that worked as leading lines, look out for similar linear patterns in your location.
With a bit of shoe work and some imagination any location can go from “good” to “whoooah!”, just take the extra time, and don’t listen to the family members shouting “oh come on how long is this going to take”!
Technorati Tags: photography, composition, landscape, tips
