New Year, New Approach to Photography

I love traditional landscape photography!  I love the resulting photos and will not stop taking these kinds of photos.  I still plan to head in to the landscapes of the world with all the things and look for amazing photos!  In fact, just last month I set off for an epic week in Banff, Canada to do just that. However, unless I am on a solo trip dedicated to photography, it’s not easy to get out in the field where I will spend hours in the car and be out for all the epic sunrises and sunset.

This type of photography has its drawbacks, though.  It requires a lot of gear.  When I head in to the field, I usually have a fairly large backpack, a decently heavy set of lenses with my camera, and my sturdy/heavy-ish tripod.  It also requires a time commitment to go out for photos.  Time I seem to have less and less of in recent years.  In addition to this time, I always would prefer to head out for photos during the times of day with the best lighting.  This would be sunrise and sunset, of course.  Now that I have a daughter, these times of day are not as available to me as they once were.  I don’t want to be on vacation with my family and have them wait for me in the morning or leave them in the evenings to take photos.

So I now am looking at a new way of thinking about photography.  A new way to incorporate photography in to my life.

Enter street photography.  Let my preface this by saying, no, I am not going to start walking around taking photos of strangers without their consent or knowledge.  That’s a bit creepy.  What I am going to do is start thinking like a street photographer in other ways.  Most notably, I will take along minimal gear and look for simpler compositions.

I’ve played around with this type of thinking before.  Especially when we spent a few months traveling through Spain and Portugal.  I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for epic, grand vistas for photos.  Instead, while we were out and about, I concentrated on interesting light and simple subjects.  I feel like the streets of European cities and villages lend themselves well to those kinds of photos.

When I see images from other photographers who shoot this way, I am always very impressed on how they are able to take an otherwise mundane scene and make compelling photographs.  I hope to emulate that in my own work.

I look forward to the challenge this will bring to my creative mindset.  To me, going to a beautiful mountainous area at sunrise with a wide angle lens on a tripod is a very easy way to get amazing photos.  Finding interesting compositions among everyday scenes is far more challenging.  When shoot this way, I usually up with a few great photos, some good photos, and a LOT of really boring photos.  Every day scenes are a challenge, but I am looking forward to using challenge as a way to push myself as I further embrace this new way of expressing my photographic creativity.

Limiting your gear does two things.

First, it will force me to be more creative.  If I don’t have all the gear, I will have to make use with what is with me and I think that will foster a new kind of creativity within me.  Sure not having all the lenses will mean that I will be unable to capture every shot, but limiting the gear will allow me to really explore what my current lens offers.  That will open the door to new photos I may not have noticed otherwise.

Second, I won’t have to pack as much for my trips.  This is especially nice when traveling by air.  Rather than my large backpack with lots of heavy cameras and lenses, I can bring a smaller backpack or even a sling.  I don’t have to stress about going through security or scramble for limited overhead space on small planes.  Everything now fits in a small bag that’s easy to lug through airports and fit nicely under the seat on the plane.

As I mentioned, this style of photography will require significantly less gear.  I am still searching for the perfect camera setup for traveling.  Perhaps I’ll make that it’s own blog post.  But all I will need is a small camera, 1-2 lenses, and that’s it.  Even the tripod will remain at home.

In Spain, I used Sony a7cr with a Tamron 20-40 lens as my walk around camera.  This combo is nice and small.  P perfect for tight spaces and the narrow cities of the Iberian Peninsula.  Lately, I am using the tiny Leica D-Lux8.  This is a fixed lens point-and-shoot camera with a 24-70 equivalent lens.  The image quality is amazing and Leica’s simple interface is quite nice once you get used to it.

I am looking forward to this new approach.  I think it will make traveling easier while opening the doors to a new creative style.  I’m sure my approach to photos will evolve over time.  I’ll find new compositions as I attempt to make compelling images from every day scenes.  After shooting this way for a while, it will be fun to look back to see how my style evolves.

At the very least, it will give me a way to express creativity when traditional landscape photography isn’t the goal.