It’s common as photographers always to be chasing the next shot. There’s a temptation to become almost ‘trophy hunters’, continuously searching for that next hit. We all know that adrenaline rush as we nail the ultimate photograph. But could our photography skills be poorer for it?
How often do we really sit with a subject? How many of us spend days shooting the same place, watching it unfold slowly over time? In this video, landscape photographer Nigel Danson takes us on his 30 days journey to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
What makes this landscape travel vlog unique is that Nigel is photographing the same beach every day for 30 days. Given, it’s a beautiful location. One could argue that you could find 3 months’ worth of images in a location such as this.
But the question remains: how can you continue to find new images in the same subject over a period of time, and what impact could doing this have on your photography?
Obviously, if you’re going to spend all of your time in one location, you can afford to slow down and try lots of different things that you might overlook if you’re travelling around. You don’t need to literally just focus on the one epic shot. You can explore abstracts, different compositions, different weather conditions, and of course, different times of day.
It’s pretty rare that you’ll get your best shots the first time you go to a place. Usually, the best shots are after becoming familiar with a location over time. That’s one reason why you sometimes won’t always get your best shots when you’re travelling or on holiday.
Now admittedly, Nigel is quite privileged to have a whole month in the Outer Hebrides. However, you can do this from your own doorstep. Revisit a location over the course of a year. Look at how it changes with the seasons. Go out in different weather conditions and really get under its skin. This slow approach to landscape photography will yield spectacular results, as the video proves.
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