What If Your Next Great Photo Took a Year to Make?

There is a difference between taking a beautiful photograph and making a body of work that tells a story. If your photography outings have started to feel like a routine of finding a composition, waiting for good light, and heading home, photographer Ian Worth has a suggestion: stop chasing individual shots for a while and give yourself a project.

In a recent YouTube video, Worth explains how working on long-term photography projects helped him find fresh inspiration and more meaning in his images. His latest undertaking, called The Golden Road, follows an ancient route across the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It also offers a useful example of how photographers can turn a familiar interest into a story that takes years to explore.

Stop chasing the perfect shot

Landscape photography often follows a predictable routine. Visit a location, find an interesting composition, and hope the weather and light cooperate. Worth says he still enjoys this approach, but it can leave photographs looking beautiful without necessarily saying much.

A photography project gives individual images a shared purpose. Instead of judging every photograph on its own, you start thinking about how it contributes to a larger story. As the project develops, new discoveries can also change its direction.

Worth experienced this with Between the Hills, a project he started about two years ago. It brought together photographs of local towns, villages, and abandoned buildings, taking him beyond his usual landscape work.

The project initially covered too much ground, with several interesting stories but no single narrative connecting them. That turned out to be useful. Exploring different subjects helped Worth identify a stronger idea that he could pursue over a longer period.

Nine ideas to get your project started

Worth also shares a list of photography project ideas that can help photographers find a direction. Some involve returning to the same location or subject, while others encourage closer attention to places people might normally overlook.

His suggestions include photographing one location every month for a year, documenting places within five miles of home, and studying how different lighting conditions change the appearance of a single subject.

Other ideas include following one tree or building through the seasons, creating a collection focused on seasonal colors and textures, and documenting how people interact with the natural landscape. Photographers can also explore minimalist compositions using only a few elements.

One particularly accessible idea is to follow a familiar route, such as a footpath, coastline, or historic trail, and document the places and stories encountered along the way.

That last suggestion became the foundation of Worth’s newest project.

Following an ancient road through Wales

The Golden Road takes its name from an ancient route running for approximately seven miles across the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. Worth says it is believed to date back thousands of years. One theory suggests it may have formed part of a longer trade route carrying gold from Ireland through Wales and toward Wessex in southern England.

Worth wants to trace where the route may have continued beyond the hills, including sections no longer marked on modern maps. Along the way, he hopes to uncover stories about the people and landscapes of Pembrokeshire.

His first attempt at photographing the area did not go exactly as planned. Worth initially set up to shoot a panorama using a 12 to 100mm lens at 100mm, taking a series of vertical frames to capture the wider landscape. But patchy light made the scene too visually busy, so he abandoned the panorama and chose a tighter composition featuring trees, a nearby town, and the ridgeline.

It was not the spectacular sunset photograph he had hoped for, but it gave the project a starting point.

Your next great photo might take a year

Worth stresses that a long-term project does not have to replace the photography you already enjoy. It can sit alongside regular outings, giving you another reason to pick up your camera and explore.

Not every frame needs to be a standout image, either. A photograph that seems ordinary on its own might become important when viewed alongside the rest of the series.

So, before you spend another weekend chasing the perfect light, consider choosing a place, subject, or route you can return to. You might find a better story waiting there.

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