Food for thoughts

Hi All,

Came across this interesting video:

Mauro

Personally I don’t understand why ‘photographers’ go to these places. Yesterday I came across @Ed_McGuirk’s lovely image of seaweed that blows away anything from these iconic sites. If two square feet of seaweed, that can be found on virtually every rocky outcrop, can be that good than why fight with those crowds at that Horseshoe Bend.

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Hi Igor, personally I fully agree with you. Capturing “0 miles” images is both challenging and rewarding and if I have the opportunity to travel I provide a generic location, also I don’t have an instagram account so won’t bias mine or others photography

Thank you @Igor_Doncov, I’m glad that you enjoyed my seaweed image !!!

I enjoy shooting both grand scenic and intimate landscapes, but to me it’s the intimate scenes that are more fulfilling and rewarding to create. These intimate type of images are not dependent on having great light and weather. And they can usually be found almost anywhere, even right at home, no need to travel to some national park.

To me, part of the appeal of nature photography is that it can be very peaceful to have some solitude when shooting nature subjects. When I am relaxed like this, I definitely enjoy the experience more, which makes it easier to create better and more meaningful images. I have taken some great images in famous locations at national parks, but I don’t enjoy the stress of the experience.

I once met another photographer while shooting at a well known “tripod hole” location. He told me me that he thought landscape photography was like “collecting”, that you needed a portfolio where you “checked the boxes” of famous locations. While that may be true if you are selling images to calendars, I thought how sad it must to be approach photography that way. It leaves little room for personal creativity and expression.

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If only we could convince the general public of the merit of intimate scenes and then we’d be all set. I really enjoy both intimates as well as grand scenes. I think that intimates generally only appeal to photographers and go over the head of the general public.

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Good topic. It think it’s about fear. People who obsess with “tripod holes” are to afraid of the natural world and themselves to be alone in it.

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Hi Steven,

Yes, and/or the famous fear of missing out
I think the obsession for tripod holes/trendy destinations is to a good extend driven by the social media.

Fortunately, I pursue photography as a hobby, and I don’t participate in social media. Thus my photography is geared towards pleasing only myself, and I don’t have to worry about what appeals to the general public.

A long time ago I used to belong to a camera club and entered the clubs competitions. I learned a lot about photography at that club when I first was starting out. But eventually I discovered that I was primarily taking the types of images which pleased camera club judges in order to score well in competition. I decided to leave the camera club and instead shoot images that pleased myself. Only then did the body of my work really begin to grow and mature IMO.

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