Alan Ross recently posted an article entitled “Too Close To Home – Even for Ansel Adams” in which he discusses how he (Alan) rarely makes interesting images close to his home and how Ansel Adams had the same “problem.”  Check it out.

It would be easy to read such an article and think, “Gee, I have something in common with Ansel Adams!”  Not so fast.  I agree that most of us do our best work in places other than where we live.  But why is that?

Perhaps the biggest reason we don’t shoot close to home is that we have too many distractions at home.  Whenever we’re home we have our “to-do lists” and other chores that make it hard to change gears and just go out and shoot for an hour or so.  Maybe we’re too busy planning our next adventure away from home that we forget about what there is to shoot nearby.

I think shooting close to home can potentially result in excellent images, images that only those who take the time to know a place can make, because if we really get to know a location we can go there when the conditions are perfect for whatever we choose to photograph.  But we have to work at it and be open to the possibilities because our subject matter is not as clear-cut as it would be if we were shooting somewhere “iconic.”  And the great thing is that we have an opportunity to shoot someplace where no one else has photographed.  True, it might not be Yosemite, but we can do some truly personal work in a place where you aren’t influenced by others’ photographs.

Why do we seem to make better photographs when we travel to new places?  Think about it, and I think you’ll agree that it has to do with several main things: (1) when we travel to photograph we “give ourselves permission” to put our other obligations aside and just go shoot, (2) when we visit a new location we are usually excited, and shooting things that excite us generally results in more personal photographs, and (3) when we’re unfamiliar with a place, we work harder at finding things that interest us, because we have put our distractions (and our preconceptions) aside.  There are many more, but I think those are the top three.

For many of us, we live where our jobs are.  If we lived in the Caribbean or Alaska or the Rocky Mountains one would think it would be easier to shoot close to home.  But that’s not necessarily the case.  We get so used to things we see every day that we lose sight of how wonderful our home is.  I used to work with a woman who grew up in Hawaii but always talked about how beautiful North Carolina is.  She told me that since she had lived in Hawaii so long she didn’t think it was anything special.  Wow, I can’t imagine that!

I’ve spent the last several years shooting on the greenway that runs through my neighborhood.  It’s been a fun project, documenting the change in seasons in different weather conditions and different times of the day.  But even when all I have to do is walk out my front door, it can still be a hard thing to do.  For a while I tried doing a regular shoot there for some of my local photographer friends, but turnout was generally pretty low.  Those who came out enjoyed it, and I had some regulars, but it’s just hard for people to get excited about shooting somewhere so close to home.

To be sure, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with traveling to other places to photograph, and I certainly do my share!  We love to travel, and there is nothing better than going to a new place, returning to a place we haven’t been in a long time, or even going to a familiar place in different conditions or at a different time of the year.  I’m planning to do my share of traveling in the coming year, too.  But I think if we work at it we can see our home the way we see new places.  Try it and see, and let me know how it goes!

Kathy & I were talking the other evening about her experiences photographing this year, and she mentioned how much she enjoys just walking around with a camera, taking photographs of things she sees and things that interest her.  She seems to have the most fun – and does her best photography – when we are just wandering around with our cameras, no tripods, no bags full of gear, just a camera and a lens.

There are obviously times were a tripod is simply necessary to get a photograph.  And when I need one I’ve got a couple to pick from.  But the biggest problem with a tripod (besides having to carry it) is that it’s another piece of gear to think about.  Just like carrying extra lenses, a tripod gives you more choices to make, another bunch of problems to solve.  Adjusting, leveling, making sure the feet don’t crush some unsuspecting lichen, etc. takes time and attention away from the task at hand.  It’s like carrying a bunch of lenses.  The more lenses I carry the better the chance that I’ve got the “wrong one” on the camera.  Of course I can solve that by walking around with multiple cameras slung Pancho Vila-style over my shoulders.  Yikes!  No thanks.

Some people handle all that just fine, but for many of us and certainly for me, having to fuss with the equipment distracts me from the flow of creativity.  That’s what I love about the simplicity of using a compact camera or an SLR with one lens.  I start out seeing based on what I have with me, I stop worrying about whether I’ve got the right lens on the camera or whether the tripod is the right height or not and I just go out and shoot.  If I need to get lower I get down.  Sometimes I lay on my back on the ground.  I’d never bother with that if I had to adjust a tripod to get that low.

Admittedly there are some concerns with shooting hand-held.  Concerned about precise composition?  It’s perfectly OK to crop a little if you need to tidy up an edge or straighten a horizon.  I can’t get straight horizons on a tripod with a built-in level in my viewfinder!  I might get a little softness from camera movement so I have to be careful with shutter speed, although with today’s cameras cranking the ISO up a stop or two (or more) isn’t a big deal.  And most of the handheld shooting I do is in daylight so that’s not too big of an issue.  And you know what?  If you use good technique and don’t try to make huge prints they’re probably sharp enough!  I find that the best cure for soft photos is often to just stop looking at them at 100%

The tripod is definitely a great compositional tool.  If you ever want to see how unsteady you are at hand-holding, switch your camera to video mode and try to hold a composition.  That may convince you to use a tripod!  But there are times when leaving it at home allows you to fully engage your creativity, to just go out and shoot.  You may be a little limited in what you can do, but I firmly believe that if your shooting style allows you to respond to the things that “call your name,” you can react to them in a way that shows through in your photographs that a razor-sharp, technically-perfect but clinically emotionless photograph just can’t match.