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Working Style
When you go out to make photographs, how do you do it? Are you a journey photographer or are you a location photographer? By that I mean when you have the opportunity to make images do you:
- Wander around looking for a suitable subject? This could involve driving somewhere and never getting there because you find interesting subject matter along the way.
- Drive directly to a location, passing everything by, even a moon rising over a New Mexico cemetery, and only begin seeing when you arrive at your predetermined destination?
I ask this question not because one-way of working is better than the other, but because it is important for us to understand how we work best. When I go out with my friend, Dan Smith, we jump in the car and drive around Northern Utah and Southern Idaho. Dan is a traveling photographer. Though he may have a destination in mind he may not reach it because he will find so many other things to photograph along the way. He is much more willing than myself to stop the car, turn around and go back and investigate.
I am a more of a destination photographer. I like to know where I am going, get there quickly and then begin my search for images. I enjoy going out with Dan because his approach forces me to work differently. Sometimes I make an image I would not have made before and other times I am just ”exercising” my camera muscles. It was on one of our jaunts that got me to thinking about how differently we worked. This doesn’t mean that Dan only drives around looking for images and I only stop at my destination before making a photograph. But as a working tendency, Dan likes to move and I like to stay in one place and get comfortable in the surroundings.
So how do you work? If you are a traveler, try driving directly to a specific location. Do NOT stop along the way. Once you arrive, don’t shoot the first thing you see. Pause for a while before you take out the camera and begin working. Try making five different photographs before moving to another destination.
If you are a destination photographer, try this. Get in your car and start driving to a destination. Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes. When the alarm goes off, find a safe stopping place and try to find an image or two there. When you get back on the road set the alarm again and stop when it goes off. Make another photograph or two. Set yourself the goal of stopping five times before you get to your planned destination.
While driving from Inversnaid Photography Center to the ruins of a nearby abbey (the field trip destination) I was feeling like I just wanted to stop and make a photograph. At the next pullout (on a single lane road) I crept over as far I could. At first I didn’t see an image but shortly the sun broke through for a few minutes and this lovely image presented itself to me. I made two or three images on the way to that abbey. I missed the first ferry out to the island but there was very shortly another one. What I gained were two or three “different” images and a refreshed attitude when I approached the field trip destination.
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