Landscapes

[SwissJon]

I spent some time earlier this year wondering where all the good landscapes had gone.. Switzerland is heavily built up in places and I was finding it very difficult to find anything worth photographing.

However, after a bit of persistance, careful studying if maps, and doing some background research I've come to the following conclusion:

Landscapes won't come to you, you have to go to them.

The reason that you don't often come accross stunning vista's just there, beside the road is because someone with a fat wallet and access to a building firm has been there before you and decided there was a fat profit in owning that vista, so they plonk a damn great house in between you and anything worth looking at, and houses require electricity, so you get damn great pylons too, and low and behold, the unremitting march of urbanisation carries on.

So in this country at least, the only way to get an uncluttered view for your lens is to find somewhere that it's bloody difficult to get a car, and go there instead.

There are still some stunning vista's left in the world, but it's really unlikely you'll get to any of them via a car, you might get some of the way there, but if it's easy to get to, someone will mess it up for you. So the 3 hours hiking I did yesterday to a fogotten lake looks to be a fairly common occurrance in my future if I want to get those "Wow" images.

Of course, what I do when I get there is still going to make the difference between average and brilliant, but having something stunning to look at in the first place makes life easier.

I am therefore going out today to get some summer hiking gear, because I'm pretty certain I'm going to need it. From now on, if I go on holiday somewhere, I'm planning to do some research before I leave.

[dvtldav]

I agree with what you say SwissJon. It is that way here in the good old USofA also so I guess anything worth getting you have to work for.

Dave

[Krusty79]

I read a comment from a pro, saying he had to go to greater and greater lengths to get shots that not everyone else with a DSLR has taken. Someone here on DPS also said a good pair of hiking boots is one of the best tools for a landscape photographer.

I've used Google Earth a few times to look for promising locations.

If I'm going to a new area, I'll look up images on Google or Flickr to get an idea of what others have already done there and what types of shots I might want to take.

[milosh]

I've heard a saying: The secret of good photos is in your legs. Which is true for both landscape and street photography.

[navcom]

Oh so true Jon!! I've traveled around and you always end up at the same "canned" vista. You really do have to get off the road and walk somewhere. If you could just jump out of your auto and snap an award-winner, everyone would be an award winner.

What I've learned over time is one simple fact...there is no place like home. If you really want to get good photographs, you have to get to know the scene...and the only way to get to know the scene is to frequent the place or places...and the best way to do that is to live there. There are no "bad" places to photograph. Every place has a story and it's own beauty or intrigue.

If I could leave one bit of advice for posterity as it concerns photography...one I learned from many past mistakes (and there are many!!) is: document your own area. I know my area. I know how it feels to live here and what the area is all about. I know where the hidden beauty is. Who better to create art from it?

My two cents anyhow.

[jwjody]

Very much agree with this. I've just started taking photographs and I've been focusing on landscapes. Spent a lot of time the past several weeks hiking with my camera and a tripod out to waterfalls.

It's been great, it feels like a small adventure trying to cross a river while wearing a backpack with camera gear and carrying a tripod. I guess it is when I fell in (not completely just hand and knees. The camera stayed dry.

Doing that has shown me the need for a good camera backpack with tripod straps though.