How do you find good locations?

[daft_biker]

Originally Posted by yalborap

That's the other thing. I'm in a cul-de-sac that takes a good 10-20 minutes walking to exit, and once you get out of that, you have another 20-30 minutes walking space of businesses.

This makes finding cool things by foot difficult as hell. The only thing I have to work with as a nice general environment is the local park.

Well I suppose it does only take me 8 minutes to get to the end of my cul-de-sac on foot. 30 seconds by bike tho

An hour to get somewhere isn't much....tis barely a warm up

[PnwGuy]

I 'm very lucky as I drive about 300 miles a week doing service calls all over the Seattle area. This allows me to find new places to shoot so I keep a list in my car and note the new places that I discover.

Another thing I do is I try to build in some extra time (especially when I work in the mountains in North Bend) when possible and I'll turn the volume down on my GPS ("recalculating") and drive some unknown road or pull into an unexplored park and see what I can find.

I try to get off the beaten path. Anybody can drive a car down the road and pull over here and there and get shots. To get truly different shots you have to be different than the others, and that usually entails more effort.

Often there are shots right in front of my face that I don't initially see. Sometimes I turn around and I'll find a shot.

Maybe go out with a specific plan, like to shoot only one color, or look for a specific shape, or shoot only textures. I work much better when I have a plan as it helps with my indecisiveness.

[Mr Guy]

On a similar vein, I'm somewhat curious how many people ask permission versus asking forgiveness. For example, at least in the US, most places, it's against the law to walk on railroad tracks, but I've never seen that stop anyone, or heard of a cop hassling someone.

Or, for example, a certain me who will remain nameless works in a building with an empty unfinished floor waiting for tenets and an adjacent parking garage with great views. I'm dying to get someone to go do grungy urban shots there with me, but I have no idea who'd even be able to give me permission to do it, and telling the model to come on, but be ready to run sounds a bit unprofessional....

[RSG1050]

I like taking walks through the back streets of downtown areas, and historic districts. Things from alleys to arches to walls to pieces of old churches are always ready for the finding.

[kencaleno]

Hi, Perhaps you need to learn to see the picture within a picture. Here's what the old landscape photographers used to do:

1. Get an A4 sized black card from the centre cut a 6"x 4" rectangle.(As Below)

2. Looking at a scene,hold this in front of your face (one eye closed, then you see as the camera sees) at different distances and you will see a contained image,within the whole vista in front of you,and from this, you are able to select which lens is needed to capture that contained image. The black card cuts out peripheral vision.

Regards, Ken

[JoesPhotos]

Fortunately for me I live on Coastal, South Carolina and have 45 miles of coastline. 50 + miles of Intercoastal Waterway, (river system that travels from Florida to NY) 2 state parks within 20 miles, Very large Botantical Garden (Bookgreen Gardens) a small country zoo and anywhere else that "finds me"

Don't close your mind to any location.

[WooD]

Originally Posted by JoesPhotos

Fortunately for me I live on Coastal, South Carolina and have 45 miles of coastline. 50 + miles of Intercoastal Waterway, (river system that travels from Florida to NY) 2 state parks within 20 miles, Very large Botantical Garden (Bookgreen Gardens) a small country zoo and anywhere else that "finds me"

Don't close your mind to any location.

I pretty much have the same shooting locations as you. I'm 15 minutes from the beach, I have I think 6 state parks within 25 miles, 3 of them are less than 10 miles. The historic section of St. Augustine is ate up with locations.

Just yesterday I found my dream location for a shoot. I've been looking for this exact type location for over a year. Its a 40 mile drive, and said to be a hang out for gangs, and homeless people, and on top of that its private property, with no trespassing signs everywhere. I'm going to try, and check it out next week.

Check this link, the place is perfect.

http://www.surf-station.com/communit...ad.php?t=25532

[JoesPhotos]

Originally Posted by Dr. WooD

http://www.surf-station.com/communit...ad.php?t=25532

You better take a few cards when you go there, Looks VERY interesting.

[WooD]

Originally Posted by JoesPhotos

You better take a few cards when you go there, Looks VERY interesting.

I talked to my wife earlier about shooting there, and she said if I get arrested for trespassing she wouldn't bail me out of jail.

I'm pretty sure she would, but I bet I'd be spending a few days/weeks sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms.

[Ginger Pixie]

Originally Posted by Dr. WooD

I talked to my wife earlier about shooting there, and she said if I get arrested for trespassing she wouldn't bail me out of jail.

I'm pretty sure she would, but I bet I'd be spending a few days/weeks sleeping in one of the spare bedrooms.

That made me giggle