As much as I like exploring new places, there is a certain risk you have to take that it is going to turn up a bust as far as image-making. It is not an easy thing to swallow at times. Wandering about, trying to get a feel for a place – and poof, the time is gone and the light is harsh. Your flashcard is empty. The creative juices didn’t even begin to flow. Much of your mental energy is spent just trying to explore and absorb, rather than create. If you had gone to someplace you know well, you might have been more productive.
This weekend I did both – explored one new and returned to an old favorite. The new one yesterday was a complete bust. Photographic mojo a no-go! Today, at one of my favorite nature sanctuaries, I shot quite a bit – all very different than I have done before. And it leaves you wondering, is it better to keep exploring new places? Or continue to focus and learn about one you already know well?
Time is a precious thing – we are all trying to make compromises and balances. Because of limited time to get out, to begin with, there is often a decision process that I have to go through – do I try to explore someplace new or stick with an old standby knowing I will come home with something? New places can lead to new energy, refreshing new subjects. But some of your creative currency needs to be spent just getting to know it. The old standbys that you know well still offer plenty of opportunities, you know the layout, the conditions, and a good idea of what to expect. Your creative currency can be spent on many other things.
Time, stress, preparedness, familiarity, and general mood all can take away or give you a little extra currency to play with. I suppose every one of us has to decide what our budget is, and how to spend it wisely.
Ha! Don’t we all wish we had that secret stash Paul!
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts on this. It is nice to know I am not alone in some of my fits of wonder.
It sure would be nice if some of these new places we explore had “ATM”s on site – visit it whenever you are feeling creatively poor!
Mark, I think your analogy of “creative currency” is a good one. I have had similar experiences. What’s great though about creative currency over regular money, is sometimes, I’ll feel I’ve spent all my creative currency only to find a “bank roll” hiding in my “mental pocket”.
you come up wiyh some dandy topic (and photos)
I love to explore but tend to stick close to home as i know where to find certain birds, fora etc throughoyt the year,, nut i love spontanaety too… if i live to be 100. i’ll still have npt covered the vast forests near me.
“(guess who has 3 new prints on her walls now..yay! i hope to order yours soon my friend.. i’ll see u in the woods someday,,i promse) 🙂
Your latest note is the story of my weekend. On Sunday I checked out a place I don’t know well, wasted the most of the time I had, though I did end up finding a beautiful pond at the end when I’d run out of time.
I’d like to strike a balance between investing creative capital on new places and harvesting images from reliable locations. Familiar locations have their own challenges – “seeing” the new in a familiar scene.
Mark, your thoughts are so apropos for my overloaded life these days. Limited time makes our photo time even more precious so we go out with a more anxious need for finding that successful shot. The creative flow gets interrupted when we’re not out there everyday and this also adds to the anxiety of not being able to calm down and really look for that perfect shot no matter where we are.
For myself, be it a new place or not, I try to sit for just a while and take it all in… the light, the sounds, the smells. This seems to help me focus on what mood I’m in and what slice of the landscape is speaking to me at that moment.
The flower obviously spoke (or should I say YELLED) at you 🙂 Quite beautiful!
Boyd – I might try the bad spot again someday. But it requires spending even more of the creative currency I feel I have wasted there so far. That is the dilemma I get into – wanting to give a place the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, knowing I may be more productive elsewhere.
Mike and Bernie – I think we are all on the same page. There are some places that just have the magic – even if you have no idea what you may end up shooting. Being so close to home helps reveal a lot of that.
Thank again guys for stopping by to comment.
BTW…The images are great, especially the Fringed Gentians, love the soft focus in this and the color is wonderful as well. Nice work Mark.
Great topic Mark… It used to be the farther I got from home the more I “believed” my photography improved, now I know if I stick to what and where I know my images seem to be a little better. That doesn’t mean I won’t take a chance and travel far away and shoot, but too me I have learned the area I live in is pretty damn beautiful and it can yield a lot of beautiful images.
The older I get the more I realize I can’t do everything so I continue to narrow it down so that I can at least master a little of it.
I plan on working Cherohala real hard as it has given me a lot more exposure than I would’ve ever dreamed. But from time to time I’ll explore something new and a new project will come along.
I would keep going back to that bad spot though until you become familiar with it.
Great article and I absolutely love both of your photos. The composition in the first is very strong. Great job.
Hey Mark, I find that evey once in a while I need to explore some new ground, but you’re right that some places just seem to keep producing. I find I can visit the same area all year and find something new as the environment is constantly changing with the seasons.
Bill and Paul, thanks for the comments.
Paul – you should try it sometime. I hold a lot of value in creating this in camera. I know a lot of people probably don’t see the value in it given you can probaby do something similar in PS. But I like the fact it was done in camera, not the computer.
I agree with Bill, but I still like to explore new places. I did that today, too. Fantastic double exposure, by the way. I know that it’s available on my D2X, but would you believe that I’ve never used it!
Nicely put, Mark. I suppose one of the beauties of nature is that even the old familiar places are forever showing us something new. We need only to remain alert to the possibilities.