A few days before a friend uploaded a photo on instagram from my favorite Prespes region only to remind me how differently scapes look not only from season to season, but also from day to day. Weather and light can transform completely the scenery and I think that this is one of the reasons landscape photography is so endlessly. It’s also so inspirational to make series of photos from the same point of view taken in different time and with different weather. The scenes compared would have many things to surprise us!
Explore
Landscape photography requires a small or big trip. Most of us live in towns and cities and to take some landscape photos means to leave urban scenery and go outside. Whether this place is near our home or during a journey and vacation, we should spend some time explore it and visit it different hours of the same day, or different days if this is possible. I always walk around; I’m trying to find different points of view and angles; I’m testing the light from different positions. The beauty of a place is unfolded slowly and gradually.
Study
Visiting a place for the first time is a great chance to learn new things, but the same thing can happen every next time. I always read from different sources for the place I’m going to visit or revisit. I have a travel guide with me to refresh the information. I browse photos by other photographers to be inspired. I see the local weather news. And, of course, if I can, I visit this place during sunrise and sunset, which are the hours one can take dramatic landscape photos. Some locations may not be suitable for dramatization as the sun is hidden too early behind the mountains. But, they still can offer fresh and rich in colors landscape photos when the weather is sunny.
Review Your Photos
It is true that we cannot remember all the things at once and sometimes we have great ideas, but we forget to do them when it’s time. It’s essential to see your photos and compare them.
Plan
In the beginning, when I looked to my photos, I thought “the next time I will do it this way or that way…”, but when this moment came I remembered only few things. Planning and schedule is very important in photoshooting and keeping notes is a crucial part of it.
Just Be Out There
The last important thing is just to be out there … with your camera! The more time you spend outdoors, the more chances you have something beautiful to happen. And, I don’t know about you, but every time I’m outdoors, I always find something to feel lucky about. Landscape photography is so meditating.
“When each day is the same as the next,
it’s because people fail to recognize
the good things that happen in their lives
every day that the sun rises.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
My photo collection of an abandonned fishing boat on the lake shore of Saint Achilles island in the small Prespa Lake, Greece. The photos were taken different years and seasons with different cameras. The weather, the light and the natural elements are playing and ‘communicating’ with the subject so uniquely, creating each time a different, stunning landscape. Hope you found it interesting! Wish you all a beautiful Thursday!
ARTbyJWP portfolio on Flickr
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