Planning the Shot
A question I received recently: “Did you create a shot list before traveling?”
The answer, yes and no. Before heading to a new area, I do my research via Instagram and Google to see what photographers who came before me have done. I’m interested in the what they found interesting and whether it would align with my portfolio. Secondly, I’m looking for varying vantage points of the “obvious shots” to give me a lay of the land from an artistic perspective before arriving.
The obvious shots = Major Landmarks, so when traveling to London:
Big Ben
Tower Bridge
London Eye
Buckingham Palace
Westminster Abbey
I knew I wanted to capture these locations ahead of time, but with cities I enjoy traveling around with camera at the ready letting my eye find the subject and composition. Granted one of my favorite shots from London was Tower Bridge (two perspectives), but the other was from a random morning boat ride down the Thames where I captured a moody Millennium Bridge (the bridge from Harry Potter). I was also pleased with my perspective of Big Ben!
I'd love for all of my shots to be unique, but that will never truly be the case. There is uniqueness in editing, if 20 photographers took the exact same shot you’d end up with 20 different final versions.
