Planning Your Photos

ClaremontPhoto

ClaremontPhoto

Jon Claremont
Local time
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Oct 15, 2005
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After yesterday's poll and thread about what do we do in the morning I was thinking.

How much do we plan our photos.?

I think of the day ahead. My trip to the bank, the market, and the city hall perhaps. I will walk to all three. Later I'll walk to a cafe to buy a lottery ticket. What routes should I take? Direct by road? By little streets? Through a park? With today's weather, and light, and number of people out and about, where will the photos be?

I know that if I plan and I have a camera there's about a 5% chance of seeing a photo. If I don't have a camera there's a 100% chance of seeing a photo!

Do you plan ahead? Or are you happy to wing it?
 
A bit of both - I always have a camera with me (a ricoh gr1 - brilliant but tiny) so I'm always looking for photos. I tend to use it though more as a visual notebook - quick snaps of potential things to come back and explore later

I have made arrangements for photo opportunities as well. I've rearranged my work timetable to give me opportunities to get out there. The best being doing clinics in the english lake district - always in the morning, with the afternoon off. Its a fantastic feeling to finish at 1pm and already be in the middle of some of the greatest scenery in the UK.

Glyn
 
Interesting to think on. Personally I don't think that much on it until I see something. For instance on the way to work I may see something that intrigues me and be sure I try to capture it. Unfortunately that is ususally something on the commute in. Stopping on the 95N raceway isn't recommended for your health. Some photos I have seen, such as light reflecting off the new Air Force memorial near Washington, DC, are difficult to catch while driving. And as I said, stopping isn't an option. Others, such as the Washington monument between two pines is a little easier after parking.

But I seldom plan a day with photography in mind. I envy those who can!
 
Although I'm pretty proud of some of the planned photos I've shot (as soon as I figure out how to create a gallery, I'll post some of them!) most of my best ones are those that have "smacked me in the face". I'll look up and there it is... Turn the corner and stumble on something perfect...

BH
 
I do a bit of both. If I'm out and about, I'm always on the look out for potential photographic opportunities which I will come back for later on, usually when the time is right (ie: weather, lighting, etc...). Other times I grab a camera, pick a spot, and just walk around shooting anything that may come my way.
 
My bessa is always with me...I'm totally agree with Jon, if i don't have the camera wite me, there're 100% chance of seeing a lot of great moments!
So..everyday take my bessa with a different lenses and one rollo of film...

the only problem is..when i don't take the bessa...i feel that i have lost anything..i'm empty.
 
my weekends are usually the same plan, shoot early in the morning and later in the afternoon on whyte avenue.
if i'm feeling anti social i go to a nearby park and walk it's boundaries and do some shooting.
 
I'm afflicted with the same problem as Jon. My wife and I often take long walks on the country roads around our house, and I rarely go out without a camera; however, two days ago, on our walk, I decided not to take one, and wouldn't you know it, we hadn't been out of the driveway two minutes when we spied a mink staring at us from the ditch on the side of the road. We stared at each other for a good 30 seconds and it was only 10 or so feet away... no camera:bang:

Otherwise, I take a mix, sometimes planning, but usually just looking for an opportunity.
 
By planning I mean I decide where to be and when so as to maximize my chances of a photo.

So, if i need to buy fish I don't go to the fish market at 8AM because the light is too weak. Instead I go there at 9AM when there's the light I want. The light may be even better later in the morning but the fish won't be.

My errands to the post office are nice. It's very busy there and I must take a numbered ticket and wait my turn. It's pretty simple to guess whether it's going to be 20 minutes wait or 30 minutes wait or whatever. The post office is in a pretty part of the city so I can go away with my camera, and get back just as my number is called.

That's my idea of planning photos integrated into my usual working day.
 
"The light may be even better later in the morning but the fish won't be."

Thanks for the smile this generated!
You are lucky to be living in such an interesting place. The town you describe has a soul that my North Amreican suburbia never had.
 
Well I'm back from completing a planned shot- well several actually. I've been waiting for the leaves to just start to pop open on a number of trees that are in front of interesting buildings- busy, busy stuff both in the foreground and background. So I've been walking by and checking these few spots this week. Got one the day before yesterday, and the rest today. Then I went off to Littleton, a place where there are often opportunities for pictures, and I wasn't disappointed. Think I got a lot of good stuff today, a few planned, but 90% on the fly.

Mostly the planning involves places where I think or know there will be subjects for my eye.
 
sepiareverb said:
Mostly the planning involves places where I think or know there will be subjects for my eye.
Click to expand...

You've nailed it.

Know your locations, and go there at the right time to get the right photo.

You may be waiting for a particular season, or special light, or people, or no people, or rain... But if you know either specfic locations or fuzzy locations and you've got the right camera/lens and the right film available then you've got a good chance of a good photo.
 
Both: sometime I plan because I'm preparing a story, or a work I'm interested in, and I know the subjects I need are (probably) in that place in that moment. And is part of the plan to go there with that lens or that film. But sometimes I like just walking around, like a flaneur, and shot or not depending on what I find.
Sometimes it also happens that the best pictures are among the last three or four frames, which I shoot very relaxed just to finish the film and have it developed.
At the end I think no fix rule !
bye, rob
 
Since I am rarely without a camera, I do both. On the odd chance a photo op will happen I have a camera, and then I set out on a photo safari in N.W. Ok to look for subjects. Fun both ways!
 
To some extent and not always, yes.

I have a long going project where I want to shoot pictures like my father shot them, preferably on the same locations but 60 years apart.

I have some with contemporary equipment in colour and now try to get the same "style" my father had in B/W.

But usualy I just decide on a film and lens and then walk out to get shots with that combination, I have learned to find subjects which work with the combination I have at hand and search out opportunities.

Other days I just grab a camera and lenses and see what will turn up while I walk around. Then I shoot what I find interesting at that moment and sometimes have something which looks interesting that I want to improve on it when I'm shooting more purposefull next time.
 
I have several ideas going at all times...different types of things I want to shoot.
I never go out without cameras.
Sometimes I have the luxury of putting myself in the right place and time to take my shots, often I find them by just keeping my eyes open.
Planning for me means walking around with a few concepts in my mind and making myself ready for when they present themselves.
 
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