These photos are from this morning’s hike. Rather than go somewhere I knew would be nice, I chose to explore new lands. I knew odds were good I wouldn’t come across anything very interesting. But you never know until you try.
I don’t do it as much as I used to, but one of my favorite photo exercises is to work a superficially boring place until I can find a way to make it visually interesting. The first time I remember doing that was at a parking lot outside a Comfort Inn in Tysons Corner, Virginia, which has to be one of the more boring places on earth. Over the years, I got pretty good at photographing parking lots in suburban wastelands. It’s a good skill to have. Really makes you think about composition. The lessons learned can be applied in a lot more interesting situations.
Although not nearly as challenging, it’s a good exercise to do in nature, whether you are a photographer or not. You may think you’ve walked a long way across boring fields only to end up at an ugly little stream in a muddy swamp, but if you sit in the same place long enough, interesting things about the place will eventually reveal themselves. Try it. You’ll see.
For extra credit, contemplate the idea that there’s no such thing as bad light.
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