Fuel costs are pushing a lot of people to rethink how far they drive just to take photos, and that pressure might actually improve your photography. Finding compelling images close to home is a skill, and most people haven't developed it because they've never had a reason to try.
Coming to you from Andrew Banner, this thought-provoking video follows Banner on a walk through the countryside near his home, shooting shapes, textures, and everyday objects most people would walk straight past. He's shooting with his camera set to a high-contrast black and white profile, which immediately changes how he sees things like fence posts, plowed furrows, and teasel plants catching harsh midday light. Banner makes a point early on that he isn't chasing epic shots here. He's looking for lines, contrast, and graphic simplicity, and the images he pulls from an ordinary field and a local church are genuinely hard to argue with.
One of the more useful ideas Banner raises is the concept of "observational photography." It's not landscape photography, street photography, or any genre with a tidy definition. It's the practice of noticing things and deciding whether they can be made to look interesting in two dimensions. Every image he captures has a clear, unambiguous subject, and that's not accidental. He talks about how human vision detects edges through contrast, and how that understanding shapes every compositional decision he makes. He also touches on why mundane subjects are actually a better training ground than dramatic landscapes, partly because you don't need a 4 a.m. alarm, a long drive, or perfect weather to access them.
Banner argues, pretty convincingly, that the reason most people find their local area boring is simply that they haven't trained themselves to look properly. Telegraph poles in a flat field, road signs, church pews lit by leaded windows — none of these are obviously photogenic until someone shows you the image and you realize you would never have seen it that way. He also brings in a reference to a short video by Tomasz Trzebiatowski, editor of Frames magazine, which touches on photographic depiction and connects in interesting ways to Banner's own approach. Check out the video above for the full walkthrough and images from Banner.
6 Comments
My Sigma 105 macro lens has become my favorite lens for shooting at home. Plants, flowers, weeds, vegetables, etc., of which we have an abundance, all look rich with detail.
That's a beautiful photo
Outstanding EYE and Mind to dream the Capture
I very often walk the same places time and time and time again, yet I can nearly always find something to photograph.
Thank you. On several occasions while strolling about my neighborhood, perched over my camera and tripod, I've been asked what I could possibly be taking a picture of. "What do you see?" Most people can't imagine taking a picture of anything less than a majestic landscape.
Where you are many will pay big $'s to get there and stay awhile. How many photo tour emails Do you get? It is the main income for some pro's!
I am a hobbyist and capture where ever I am at a time, My Photo EYE was trained in the mid 70's with film where one has to think and see first before a capture and today I spy captures while just driving about or when traveling and staying at a hotel/motel in a small city or town. For many years traveling from Florida to upper Mississippi I would pass a sign on I10 pointing to the Florida Caverns so one trip a rainy day I stopped for the night and later went to, some great images.
Let me get make to local images, todays world of digital and posting from all over the city and local places on Google or other social media you will find places to drive to in just minutes.
just off my front porch I captured the whole night of a lunar eclipse while aiming over my roof but then just put all images on one earlier 10mm capture off the local beach.
Also a Milky Way back in 2015 with my new A7SM1 over a house next door while under a street light lighting up the house but having some dark sky above.
Have you ever just gone to a zoo in a your city or near by.
You have a photo eye and you have time to spy things like a beach where you see cars most every time you pass and people sitting in chairs most anytime of the year. As a photographer you know every sunrise/set as well as tides if around ocean water. Both rise and sets are at meal times so just go by a spot to get a meal to go but stop while it is happening maybe a 15 minute stop BUT there is a great show by nature most times and just looking at the clouds for whispery ones one day you head out.
As a hobbyist I have weather apps and photo apps I follow the moon and sun as well as the Milky Way and look for foregrounds for all and my mind just sees what it could be and I make notes on a map and again on a calendar.
Some info for the new photographer that will start some day dreams.
The sun goes from south to north and back down but also during the mid time it rises and sets 180 degrees apart in March and late September to early October so a great panorama but to add a full moon at the same times will be opposite the sun. The full moon always rises and sets on the horizons in the same place every month. So if high enough to capture both horizons in a pano you get a two fer in the morning and another at sunset just find a foreground.
For the other months an app called TPE you can follow both sun and moon going from south to north and back it all so lets you see on a map where and what building of structures will be behind all you need is a good clear sky again weather apps!
First image was with my Canon T2i using the promote control for bracketing and using an HDR program from the Nik Collection back when it was free, You have to see with your minds photo eye for the plaining.
Like this post see really look and see what is there around you that others never ever see that is what makes a photographer vs a snapper. Open the daydreaming mind to see an plan it and wait for it!
Note: how do you know if a group of Lunar eclipses images are fake? From start to end the moon turns clockwise as it goes from east to west or beginning to end.