Location Scouting & Ditching the Car
Shot at F11 1/15s 80mm on Kodak Portra 400 (Bronica SQ-A). Pedal power is a slower exploration than by car allowing you to more easily take in your surroundings. Not to mention the great exercise!
Whether you are a photographer or a filmmaker, preparation is always key. Knowing what you need and where you need to be at what time are essential to a smooth operation and, as long as you do not work solely in a studio, location scouting is one of those preparations. It is easy to glance at a portfolio of a top landscape photographer and then scratch your head as to why your images do not look like that, despite having visited many scenic locations. What is not immediately obvious is all the work that went into producing even one of those images. Each image in a portfolio could well have taken a month to create.
Shot at F22 1s 80mm on Fuji Pro400H (Bronica SQ-A).
You need to be incredibly lucky indeed to simply rock up to a location for the first time and get a standout image. In reality a location will likely need to be scouted and cased over several visits to enable to you understand what your options for composition are, where to stand, how the light falls on the terrain and quite simply what is the best way to get there. Today we have a great many tools at our disposal compared to the photographers of the past. We can look at Google Maps to get an idea of the terrain and OS maps to understand the pathways. Now we can even use apps like PhotoPills to work out where the light will be at a particular time of day to take that guess work out of the equation. However, even then there is not anything quite like being on location and seeing how it all looks with your own two eyes. You may turn up to find you are there at the completely wrong time of year.
Shot at F16 1/15s 80mm on Kodak Ektar 100 (Bronica SQ-A).
With the UK sat in a second nationwide lockdown I took this as an opportunity to explore areas local to myself that I would otherwise have neglected or ignored. It is always easy to look to that distant National Park full of mountains a day’s drive from you and miss the hills and woodlands within a few miles of home. I was very much guilty of this, so I decided to consult maps of near where I live and look for interesting geographical features like bodies of water or small areas of woodland I had not previously visited. To my surprise there was more than I thought there would be, so I packed my gear, hauled my bike out of the shed and went on my way.
Shot at F5.6 1/100s 120mm on Kodak Portra 800 (Nikon F100).
Tempting as it might be to take the car, especially as the weather gets colder, I find exploring on foot or in the saddle is much more comprehensive. Small hidden areas locally may not have a great deal of parking available and sometimes it is the places on the way that really catch your attention (helped by travelling that much slower). On a bike you could stop just about anywhere, even in the middle of a stretch of road, somewhat trickier with a vehicle.
Shot at F11 1/4s 80mm on Kodak Ektar 100 (Bronica SQ-A).
Being unhindered by a car means you do not have to keep doubling back or walking in a loop every time, simply head off to the next location on your itinerary. In addition, I find you have a greater appreciation for the area, puffing away as you fight up a hill and feeling the relief as you breeze down the other side. This would have been overcome all to easily with small throttle adjustments in the car, the former certainly changes my perspective and it might just give you an idea for a composition you missed before. Of course, if the area you want to explore is much further away then there is no harm in putting the bike in the back and getting it out when you arrive.
Shot at F16 1/15s 80mm on Kodak Ektar 100 (Bronica SQ-A).
I find that most areas I explore are simply struck off the list of places to revisit but at least I can say I have been there and know what to expect. Hidden gems are a real thing though, and I have certainly found areas I had not even considered visiting that look promising for a return a different time of the year. Noted down, I now have one more idea I did not have before and that is very much what it is about. Even if it is something small, all it must do is produce a single good image and it will be worth it.
Shot at F11 1/60s 90mm on Kodak Portra 800. This scene contained a huge difference in dynamic range but with the large latitude of colour negative film, enough of the underexposed foreground could be recovered.
Bear in mind as well that with everyone having a camera of some description in their pocket these days, that the big-ticket locations are already very saturated with images. These can sometimes look a lot better than what you took at the same place. You must remember that you are comparing your work, that of a single person, to multiple different people who had luck on their side to be on location at the perfect time with the perfect light. Going local you can ditch the hotspots and produce an image that is much more unique and personal, and it is images like that which will make you stand out from the rest. If all else fails at least you got in a good bit of exercise! No can say that is a bad thing.
What do you think? Have you been exploring your local area recently? Let me know in the comments below.
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