[AgentL]

Yes, I am definitely that fish out of water in my small, small coastal town, as I love making street photos but am 3 hours from the nearest city (which is not a particularly good one for street). I've taken to photographing tourists, especially during the pandemic as travel has been out of the question (for everyone but them, somehow).

[Michail_P]

It's a difficult question. I decided to take my photography seriously during my studies in the big, interesting society called a city. The crowd, the monuments, the urban space gave me what I was seeking for, street and architectural photography, with variety and quality. Now that I'm back home, things are tough. Seeing the same people everyday, doesn't offer much artistic potential. Although I dig in my place and try to rediscover it. Maybe there's still hope.

[house]

It's a difficult question. I decided to take my photography seriously during my studies in the big, interesting society called a city. The crowd, the monuments, the urban space gave me what I was seeking for, street and architectural photography, with variety and quality. Now that I'm back home, things are tough. Seeing the same people everyday, doesn't offer much artistic potential. Although I dig in my place and try to rediscover it. Maybe there's still hope.

Most important recent photography has been from small places. Arguably its even preferred by curators and juries to the big city stuff. Thing is you have to live an interesting life or at least have access to interesting people or places for this to work, but the same applies to cities. What is interesting in your place is impossible to know. One of the most important functions of photography is to identify, find and share whats interesting about your place. To take it even further its best if these things tie in with societal, environmental or economic processes that are either unique to your place or global phenomena. This applies for all types of photography. Try to be brave.

[Joe Schmoo]

Are any of you living in an area which gives little opportunity for the type of photography that you prefer?

For example I am a middle age chap who grew up in the hustle and mechanical bustle of London but who has taken up photography now that I live in the wide open, flat, countryside of Norfolk England.
My creative instrincts are for streets, buildings and markets which formed my early development but what I have around me to photograph has a different visual language and significance to what I know.

I have started to learn more about the natural environment but that only filters through to my pictures in a small way. I struggle to find drama in a beautiful scene so I end up taking pictures of isolated objects in a 'pretty' composition. I dont often see 'an ensemble' scene that grabs me.

So my belated question is this. Do you persevere to change what floats your boat or somehow bring one creative palette to a different canvas?
Or always expect to jump in the car for a longish round trip for a change of scene?

I would be very interested to know if you have ever wrestled with this dilemma ?

All the best
Rob

Just look and learn. And forget about yesterday. There are people all around you with stories that can't be invented.

[clickclick]

I had never really thought of it that way. I think I've always just looked around where I was for photographic opportunities and went from there. That said, I've enjoyed the variety that trips to distant places have given me. Makes me actually want to go hop in the car in pursuit of a something different. That said, I always have at least my Q-S1 in my bag when I leave the house for fear of a missed opportunity, even if it's just a mundane run up to the store.

[Billking]

Are any of you living in an area which gives little opportunity for the type of photography that you prefer?

For example I am a middle age chap who grew up in the hustle and mechanical bustle of London but who has taken up photography now that I live in the wide open, flat, countryside of Norfolk England.
My creative instrincts are for streets, buildings and markets which formed my early development but what I have around me to photograph has a different visual language and significance to what I know.

I have started to learn more about the natural environment but that only filters through to my pictures in a small way. I struggle to find drama in a beautiful scene so I end up taking pictures of isolated objects in a 'pretty' composition. I dont often see 'an ensemble' scene that grabs me.

So my belated question is this. Do you persevere to change what floats your boat or somehow bring one creative palette to a different canvas?
Or always expect to jump in the car for a longish round trip for a change of scene?

I would be very interested to know if you have ever wrestled with this dilemma ?

All the best
Rob

Read

The Peregrine by JA Baker

and

Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane

They will open your eyes to British landscapes and the animals that dwell in them.

Also Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald, who used to live in your neck of the woods.

[Michail_P]

Most important recent photography has been from small places. Arguably its even preferred by curators and juries to the big city stuff. Thing is you have to live an interesting life or at least have access to interesting people or places for this to work, but the same applies to cities. What is interesting in your place is impossible to know. One of the most important functions of photography is to identify, find and share whats interesting about your place. To take it even further its best if these things tie in with societal, environmental or economic processes that are either unique to your place or global phenomena. This applies for all types of photography. Try to be brave.

You are right , especially about the being brave part. Yes, a small society is somehow very interesting, keeping alive most of its folklore. Customs , tradition, lifestyle, all are a source of photographic material. But on the other hand, daily interaction with the same people sometimes kills the mood for exploration. There are some places I haven’t been to, even though I live in a relatively small island, so I should definitely get some more action, now that the weather steadily cools down.... who knows, maybe winning a limited could give a great amount of positive energy...

[PDish]

Personally I used to bring an old film camera in my car. Many times I was able to catch a shot of something that I saw while driving. Alas I haven't done this of late, but still see things in the photographic eye and wish I had the drive to record these images again. You'll find your eye and it will lead you into more interesting scenery soon. Goodluck!

[robgski]

There are people all around you with stories that can't be invented

Exactly so! Most people, especially older people, have lived rich lives full of experiences that few other have, a good writer captures their stories, a good photographers captures their lives in the lines on their faces. Call yourself the unofficial town historian and begin capturing people and events for posterity. I've lived in my little town for over a decade, it has now grown bigger, and older folk are dying off and some kids are graduated and moving away, some fields are now houses, and some old buildings are now razed, so I wish I'd captured it all from, the start.

adily interaction with the same people sometimes kills the mood for exploration

Why? Someone from National Geographic could drop in and make a photo essay of your town and island, and you know it far bettert han they would, so get out and make you own photo essay,, even if you are the only one who will ever view it.

[AlexanderS]

Are any of you living in an area which gives little opportunity for the type of photography that you prefer?

For example I am a middle age chap who grew up in the hustle and mechanical bustle of London but who has taken up photography now that I live in the wide open, flat, countryside of Norfolk England.
My creative instrincts are for streets, buildings and markets which formed my early development but what I have around me to photograph has a different visual language and significance to what I know.

I have started to learn more about the natural environment but that only filters through to my pictures in a small way. I struggle to find drama in a beautiful scene so I end up taking pictures of isolated objects in a 'pretty' composition. I dont often see 'an ensemble' scene that grabs me.

So my belated question is this. Do you persevere to change what floats your boat or somehow bring one creative palette to a different canvas?
Or always expect to jump in the car for a longish round trip for a change of scene?

I would be very interested to know if you have ever wrestled with this dilemma ?

All the best
Rob

Hey,
I am really passionate about mountain views and urbex, something that flat and urbex location destroying ol' Denmark cannot offer. Really tired of the often same perspectives, but that dilemma pushed me very much into macro photography, which I now enjoy.

[Rob Payne]

That's an interesting dilemma.

What drew you to photography isn't what you see around you.

Still, I think the skills and instincts you developed can be applied to the area where you are, and can bring a new perspective to the locations you now visit. Without changing everything, you can make your hobby evolve.

I think you are right - It might sound a cliche but I guess photography is a journey.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:17 AM ----------

It's a difficult question. I decided to take my photography seriously during my studies in the big, interesting society called a city. The crowd, the monuments, the urban space gave me what I was seeking for, street and architectural photography, with variety and quality. Now that I'm back home, things are tough. Seeing the same people everyday, doesn't offer much artistic potential. Although I dig in my place and try to rediscover it. Maybe there's still hope.

I think small places are the hardnest to mine but maybe what you end up with could be gold.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:21 AM ----------

Hello Rob, perhaps I had it the other way, that dilemma. I roamed the area in which I live and in the end I got bored with it. In that period I pictured scenery and ended in taking pictures of isolated objects. Or even a bit of macro vision. A beautiful scene is drama in itself. Because of the drama is why I think it beautiful. But after so many years you have seen it all and it has become to familiar. Now I moved house again and am confronted with a new scenery. Here are more woods for instance and less buildings. So now I am taking pictures of trees and not just one standing right up, but ones that have something other trees do not have. Even dead trees and trees without leaves are far more interesting than trees with their different coloured leaves which make good scenery. Just the curves of the branches of leafless trees is so much better than a tree with green leaves. I lived in one of the three big cities of the Netherlands close to the beach and the sea, then moved to a more or less rural part with a lot of farming but very flat and now to a part that has also farming but a lot of woods as well and some hill like scenery. So each time I had to adjust my topics for photography, which moved from sea scenes to farming and now to woods and plants. The changing of the scene after moving each time invited me to look at another way to that what surrounds me. In a kind of way I never took the heritage of before with me, just started a new photographic life. But each time as my photographic life came to a standstill and I decided to sell or give away my gear I moved to another part of the country that enticed me to pick up the camera again and made me realise I had to buy a wide angle lens, which I never liked, but it was the only way to get a tree almost full in a picture. So I had to adapt my gear to what I can do here. The answer in short is each different canvas pressed me to use a differtent palette and enjoy the new way of looking at things. But with the progression of age you observe things in another way than when you were younger and that also develops the way you use that camera.

ah I like your point about seeing things differently as you get older and maybe that can be more important than the particular canvas you have before you.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:26 AM ----------

One inspiration is to look at what other good and famous photographers have done in such areas. Or even painters like Suffolk's Constable. I am the inverse of you, more drawn to the countryside. But I worked in central London for a few years and in my lunch breaks I dabbled in street photography, taking inspiration from Cartier Bresson and Atget

Some of the most pleasing landscapes I've seen have been done with a 'painterly' style. Maybe I could explore that.
There is a Serbian woman on Flicr who has such a style and I admit to really liking that style of countryside pictures.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:31 AM ----------

I like photographing water moving over rocks in streams. Not much of that going on here.

I also like photographing interesting rock formations such as what is found in southern Utah in the USA. Again, not much of that going on around where I live.

I also quite like studio photography, but no longer have access to a room big enough for that.

Consequently, I am a very frustrated photographer who vents his ire by being a troll on Pentax Forums.

It's a sad little life that I lead.

lol - howabout specialising in gritty, downbeat, b&w self portraits?

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:42 AM ----------

If you prefer street photography, surely Norwich has some life to be found? With lockdown measures being eased, there will surely be more activity in local markets and events? I enjoyed Norwich when we used to visit years ago, but if big city vibes are all that cut it, you’ll need to travel. How else do landscape lovers scratch that Glencoe/Snowdonia/Luskentyre itch? However, from your other posts I get the impression you’ve more to learn and looking for something interesting locally is what we all have to do while grappling with developing an eye for things that really interest us.

We can’t all live in NYC or Paris, or just five minutes from Yosemite Valley, thank goodness! The world is full of interest, both large scale and in the details.

Yes Norwich is a great place to take 'lovely' pictures. I have hundreds pictures of the medieval, Georgian and victorian splenders that it has to offer.
Being relatively new to photography I have still to learn the art of street photography. In london you are essentially anonymous whether you carry a camera or not so I can unashamably intrude where I fancy. Norwich is a slower, friendlier place where people easily scare at a lens being pointed at them. I have tried leaving the pentax at home and using a small sony mirrorless to be more 'agile' but the results always leave me wishing I had used my K70.
But when I travel into Norwich I do take some shots where I can.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:46 AM ----------

Over in the “recommended videos “ thread there is a recent post about street photography in rural or small town settings. Does the world need another photo from London? I doubt it, but how many photos captured life and people in your little corner of England?

I totally get what you are saying about the usual cliche shots of London, NY, Paris etc.
I guess I am still developing as a photographer to 'see' the value of the local and commonplace and turn it into something mine.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:55 AM ----------

I used to both live and work near small town downtown areas, with all their old buildings and their charm. Now I work from home and while I'm still somewhat close to a more interesting area, it's not quite the same. I really have to start making myself find photography subjects because I'm bored of shooting the same things over and over again...
The irony is while I don't have top equipment, my gear is better than it's ever been - but my photography has somewhat stalled.
On top of that, my photography apparently annoys my wife. We are having a family trip for our 15-year anniversary and she already told me the best gift I can give her is to not use my camera. So there goes that opportunity as well.

My other half also doesn't share my passion but she is creative so she will tolerate my 'David Bailey' moments when we are away. And as I tell her 'it wont take time - no more than 1/120 of a second'
If you can recognised that you are in a slump then that is exactly the time to do something about it. Go off on your own once a week with your camera. I bet you will start to use it.

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 07:59 AM ----------

Read

The Peregrine by JA Baker

and

Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane

They will open your eyes to British landscapes and the animals that dwell in them.

Also Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald, who used to live in your neck of the woods.

Thank you for the suggestions. I think I've heard of Wild Places but I will give them all a read. Cheers

---------- Post added 07-21-21 at 08:04 AM ----------

Hey,
I am really passionate about mountain views and urbex, something that flat and urbex location destroying ol' Denmark cannot offer. Really tired of the often same perspectives, but that dilemma pushed me very much into macro photography, which I now enjoy.

I know Denmark quite well and although it is very similar to the Norfolk landscape I am charmed by your towns and cities (and people). I was there last 3 years ago and often go through my shots there.

[ffking]

howabout specialising in gritty, downbeat, b&w self portraits?

What do you think his avatar is?

[AgentL]

Exactly so! Most people, especially older people, have lived rich lives full of experiences that few other have, a good writer captures their stories, a good photographers captures their lives in the lines on their faces. Call yourself the unofficial town historian and begin capturing people and events for posterity. I've lived in my little town for over a decade, it has now grown bigger, and older folk are dying off and some kids are graduated and moving away, some fields are now houses, and some old buildings are now razed, so I wish I'd captured it all from, the start.

Why? Someone from National Geographic could drop in and make a photo essay of your town and island, and you know it far bettert han they would, so get out and make you own photo essay,, even if you are the only one who will ever view it.

The only problem with that is that some of us aren't "people people" and find functioning as a portrait-documentarian to be a little bigger of a bite than we want to chew... but I do like that kind of work.

[house]

The only problem with that is that some of us aren't "people people" and find functioning as a portrait-documentarian to be a little bigger of a bite than we want to chew... but I do like that kind of work.

Cities, villages and landscapes can be photographed in much the same way. With emphasis on time, process, history and change.

[ehrwien]

I think this is an opportunity to create great pictures. When I'm in a foreign country or even just city, there are so many things that are new and scream "photograph me!", and I will fire away as if there's no tomorrow, but looking back at the pictures later, not many will be objectively great photos, and some might have been taken by thousands of other people already.

But when you're "bored" of a place, somewhere that doesn't seem worth photographing, it might take some time, but when you keep on photographing, you might start to see things that other people do not notice, something truly special. Trying to find those things should be all the motivation needed to get out there with open eyes and your camera ready.