There is a lot of advice out there; in fact there is an overwhelming amount of advice out there for someone looking to progress their photography. Part of that process is to look at images that have been produced by others on a subject that you are interesting in working on, landscapes being a good example. You examine how the composition works (or doesn't) what the light and the colours do for the image and probably the most obvious element, the actual subject of the image. The problem that arises is many new photographers fall into the trap of not using their imagination enough and become formulaic in producing their own images. So what do I mean by that? There is a fine line (but a line none the less) between being inspired by an image or photographer and slavishly following the well beaten path taken by many before and landscape image subjects are an example. If you take a look at the on-line galleries on sites such as ePhotozine, for example, you will soon realise that certain locations feature every day; indeed some to the point boredom for this viewer anyway! Twisleton Scar in the Peak District is a very popular spot and very photogenic. However the viewer of the gallery on ePhotozine might be forgiven for thinking that there is only 1 tree in the area; "that" tree isolated on the rock field. Similarly that there is only 1 mountain in Scotland, invariably misnamed as Buachaille Etive Mor (its correct name is Stob Dearg). The number of images taken of that mountain from the same burn, with the same small flow over some rocks is countless - and quite frankly a bit boring, no matter how technically good the image is. Equally I will not be sorry if I never see another photo of Blackrock Cottage, also in Glen Coe, in my life. It appears to me that people think if I copy that great photo, I will have a great photo as well. What a sad state of affairs.
What to do about it? Use your imagination; open your eyes and look for opportunities to apply the same techniques to scenes that you have discovered. Now I totally accept that if you want to capture an image of the Tower of London you can't do that by going to Cornwall. However, unless you are on a commission shoot, there is great scope for thinking about the subject and coming up with a new angle or viewpoint that will make your image standout from the "postcard" crowd. Colin Baxter would never have made it to the top if he just stood by that burn and took shots of Stob Dearg, no matter how beautiful they looked. We live in a bigger world than that, even on this small island.

25/02/2013