What to look for & when!

[Andybazyoung]

I am trying to put together a month by month annual diary of what I should be planning to photograph. I live in the South West of England. If any of you have any suggestion/guidance I would be greatly appreciative. I am thinking of nature, weather & subtle habitat changes etc.

[Manfred M]

I'm not sure why you are planning; I tend to be an "opportunistic photographer" and shoot what I find. I do have a few shots that I'm thinking about getting, but find I have more fun discovering things with my camera when I'm out and about. People, landscapes, wildlife, buildings, whatever I happen to run across when the lighting is intersting and my camera is in my hands.

[Andybazyoung]

I'm not sure why you are planning; I tend to be an "opportunistic photographer" and shoot what I find. I do have a few shots that I'm thinking about getting, but find I have more fun discovering things with my camera when I'm out and about. People, landscapes, wildlife, buildings, whatever I happen to run across when the lighting is intersting and my camera is in my hands.

Thanks, yes I get that but for me personally I feel I need a target or challenge/purpose! before I get out.

[ShaneS]

Andy, how about thinking of places that you would like to visit for their photographic opportunities? As an example, I like nature shots too so am making it a point to visit all of my local botanical gardens (I still have one to go but it is one the other side of the island and us locals think that an hour drive is a long way ).

You could also search through Google images for your area to see what type of images others are sharing. If anything strikes your fancy or has potential determine the location and add it to your list.

Like Manfred says, try to revisit different locations at different points of the year or times of day.

Also think about creating a project for yourself that focuses on a subject or technique. As an example create images of all of your local churches at night. Fill in the blank with whatever strikes your fancy like local fishing holes, playgrounds. etc. This type of project will get you out of the house and you can take it from there and capture images for the project and whatever else catches your eye throughout the year.

[Manfred M]

In that case a few thoughts for you, as you are looking at doing this over the next number of months:

Seasonal changes are always an interesting theme; photographing the same setting; whether that be a building or a landscape, it really doesn't make that much difference. They all look decidedly different at different times of of the day or year.

Your could look at a particular setting and take the same shot or you could do more of a theme. I've sort of started to do this with the Rideau Canal; a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is not that far from home. I have shots at different times of the year where the canal is really the only thing that connects the various images.

I've done the same thing with one of the major parks in the area, Gatineau Park and do take my camera along on every visit. Cyclists in the summer, some of the tourist attactions, skiers in the winter and the gorgeous autumn colours are all tied back to the park.

[pnodrog]

Everything all the time but most of all the lighting.

[Stagecoach]

Andy,

a) Landscapes with skies that have neither vast areas of blue and fluffy white clouds but have interest.
b) Bugs and critters.

Grahame

[Val Mansfield]

Tom Ang’s book, “Digital Photography Master Class” contains twenty tutorials each of which contains a challenge. The subject matters are:

City Lights, Still Life, High Dynamic Range, Natural forms against the Urban Environment, City Streets Temples etc, Composition – unusual interpretation of well known feature, Pet Portrait, Light & Shadow, Flash Portrait, Darkroom Enhancements (Turning a promising photo into a great one), Transform an Image, Montage (Combining elements from two or more photographs rather than a conventional montage), Travel Revealed, Character Portrait, Day in the Life of a subject, Definitive Image of a local attraction, Sport, Architecture, Wildlife, and Fine Art Photography.

Maybe there are some ideas there? As I don’t take enough photographs when I’m travelling, my New Year resolution will be to accept one of these challenges a week.