Like many photographers, travel photography is my first love. Also, like many photographers, I don’t get to travel anywhere near as much as I’d like to. With this in mind I think we are all faced with the challenge of stimulating ourselves photographically when we’re at home.
There are many good reasons why we should make the effort to shoot when we are at home. The first is that we enjoy it! Secondly, shooting at home helps us to improve our skills.
I have recently been trying to find subjects to shoot close to home and have found that a little effort can provide a wealth of subject matter.
Popping the cork taken with Leica M8 and Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron-M
Nick Morrow and I are visiting Samye Ling Monastery next month to photograph the Buddhist Monks for an article for this site for example. This location is less than two hours away and promises some very different subject matter for us.
I also recently attended the Cycle Speedway Home International Match which gave me the opportunity to capture some very different images and challenged my skills in a totally different way.
Shooting sports with a digital rangefinder and a manual focus film SLR was a humbling experience for me – how did sports photographers shoot so well before autofocus was born?!
Emerging from the crash taken with Canon D60 and Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS
Another good way to approach shooting close to home is to contact local businesses and ask if you can come to photograph what they do – you will find that most people are very receptive to these types of request in return for a few prints or a disc of images. I did a series of shots at a club in Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire, which was enjoyable for me and gave me the chance to, again, work in different conditions and improve my skills.
MC Dynamite taken with Leica M8 and Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux-M
Spending some time with a pen and paper just brainstorming ideas can also help stimulate your photography. I sat down for five minutes the other night and came up with a few ideas which I plan to progress over the coming months.
My girlfriend and I have been watching the television show “Damages” and I was impressed with the opening title sequence of the programme. As a result I am planning to shoot a series of abstract monochrome images of monuments and statues in Edinburgh.
Steve Harris taken with Leica M8 and Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron-M
I am also planning to attend a classic car show in the coming months having been inspired by some photographs I saw from the Goodwood Revival in a recent edition of Leica Fotografie International (LFI).
I hope that this article has inspired you to think about what you want to shoot and why. Having a purpose, in my experience, helps to give you drive and usually results in far more interesting images.
Cycle Speedway International taken with Leica M8 and Leica 50mm f/2 Summicron-M
I’d be interested to hear from readers who perhaps undertake a specific project so that I can follow this up with a future article.
A full gallery of the images from the Cycle Speedway Home International can be found here.
June 2009