How many times have you been out on a photo shoot for yourself but look around you and think that there is nothing to capture? Often, more often than not, most probably.
I have often been out on a casual photo shoot with other photographers and I realise that they aren’t shooting any images. I then ask them why not and often the response I get is “there isn’t anything to photograph” That sounds reasonable, but is there really NOTHING to capture? This is when I say the photographer is looking…but not seeing. Looking is a function of our eyes, we look at objects, sights and scenes on a daily basis. It is this “looking” that numbs our senses to “seeing”. Seeing is a function of our insight and creativity, not only our sight. In photography, we need to “see” photographs in our minds eye before we can capture them in camera.
I liken this lack of seeing to writers block, a kind of photographers blind spot. We look around but don’t see images popping up. So what do we do? Pack up our bag and camera and head for the coffee shop, might be a solution, but what I find works for me is to look for the stuff that I have taken images of lots of times before and try and capture them in a way I haven’t seen done. So, I explore different angles, I look for unusual colours, I look for textures or shapes, I look for dramatic light and if there isn’t any then I will take my hotshoe flash off my camera and use that as an external light source. Maybe a reflector might help or lying on your back looking up at the subject using the sky as a background instead of grass. The physical act of lying on your back or getting under a subject can really help those creative juices flow and before you know it, you will have 30 shots done and suddenly you are excitedly exploring your new patch of grass either at home or even at a place like the Queen Elizabeth Park.
When I do this, I play with things like depth of field, colour, shapes, textures and then try and find unusual angles. It works almost every time without doubt and you will be amazed at the results. So next time you are at a loss for…(not words) images, try it, it becomes addictive!