Why Your Local Area Could Be Your Best Photography Location

Take a quick look through YouTube photography videos and you will see titles such as…

5 Photography Locations You Must Visit

Photos From My Recent Trip to… (add location)

Top 5 Photography Locations

This is Why You Want to Photograph in… (add location)

5 Epic Landscape Locations

Photographing Iconic Locations in… (add country)

Best Landscape Locations for Photographers

And so on.

You could be forgiven for thinking that unless you can visit an epic location you won’t get any decent photographs.

Of course, most of us love to take a trip to a different location which offers us new photographic opportunities. But for most of us, travelling to exotic locations will not be possible very often and even travelling outside our own country may just be for holiday purposes rather than for a photography trip.

So, if travelling for photography is not possible for you, are you confined to producing average photography in average locations?

I think not.

I want to suggest that your LOCAL AREA could be your BEST photography location.

Here are 7 reasons to back up my claim.

In your local area you will have opportunities to:

#1. MAKE CONNECTIONS WITH THE PLACE

When you return constantly to the same location you begin to make real connections with the place. Whether you like to photograph nature, landscapes or street images you get to know your location intimately and therefore invest more emotion into what you are photographing.

As you develop a deeper connection with the place you visit often you get the chance to discover what you like to photograph and learn about yourself as a photographer.

This contrasts with making a brief visit to an iconic location where you don’t have time to really get to know the area, or even the photographic subjects it offers. Indeed, it is often the case that your trip and your photographic shoots are planned for you in these locations, giving you little real choice over what you photograph.

#2. FIND YOUR OWN UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE

By doing your photography in your local area you have ample opportunity to make decisions about what and how you want to photograph. Rather than capturing an expected image from an epic location you can make more unique images that reflect your own photography style. Furthermore, by visiting a place often you can photograph all the main landmarks from many perspectives as well as finding hidden subjects that may not have been immediately obvious.

One of the places that I frequent often is a local woodland. Even when I go out thinking that there will be nothing new to photograph, I always find something. It might be a pattern of leaves on the ground, a particularly interesting tree, or just the way the sun catches a subject. Nothing stays the same from day to day and it is these changes that bring such diversity of images.

#3. DISCOVER THE BEAUTY ALL AROUND YOU

As I suggested in point number one, when you know an area well you feel more deeply about the place and that emotion can transfer to your images. In this way you encourage yourself to find beauty in the mundane, and everyday scenes become photographic opportunities.

I love to use my camera and macro lens to examine the tiny world which often goes unnoticed and unappreciated.

I love to watch out for animals in their natural environment or birds go about their daily business.

I love to find a beautiful leaf pattern backlit by the early morning sunlight or create an abstract pattern using the natural elements around me.

Your local area, no matter where that is, is an area of abundant beauty. You just have to look, and look again, to find it.

#4. OBSERVE THE LOCATION OVER TIME 

When you photograph primarily in your local area you have opportunities to observe the place in different weather, over different seasons and at different times of day.

You can watch how the light behaves in various parts of the location and plan your visits accordingly.

You notice small details that others miss, and you can use these details to get creative with composition.

#5. ENJOY YOUR TRAINING GROUND

One of the great advantages of photographing in your local area is that you will have countless opportunities to develop and hone your skills as a photographer. It is quite literally your photography training ground where you can experiment, discover, practise your skills and make mistakes that help you learn and grow.

If you come home with an image that you know could have been better, you can return and see if you can correct your faults.

If you see something as you go about your daily business, you can keep it in mind for a time when you can return with your camera.

I am sure that I am not alone when I say that I have often visited a distant location and returned with a disappointing image, wishing in vain that I could return and get a better version of my photograph.

In your local area, you can easily do this.

#6. DEVELOP YOUR CREATIVITY

In my view, creativity needs three main ingredients. These are, Time, Opportunity and Observation.

Many photographers can produce a creative image wherever they are, but I believe that many of them developed their creative skills in their own local place.

Certainly, for me creativity has developed over time, by constantly getting out with my camera, making the most of the opportunities that present themselves and closely observing what is around me so that I can represent what I see in a creative way.

Sometimes I will see interesting water patterns in a pond or discover a way to get creative with autumn colours.

Sometimes I will see an opportunity to create an abstract image or to experiment with intentional camera movement.

Sometimes I will make creative use of camera settings, deliberately over or under exposing an image to get the desired effect.

All of this experimentation requires time, opportunity and ability to observe closely in a location, which are all attributes that your local area can offer.

#7. INCREASE YOUR HEALTH AND WELLBEING

One obvious advantage of using your local area for photography is that you will be more likely to go out often and therefore reap all the health benefits on offer.

I will usually spend at least one or two hours on each occasion walking, observing, being immersed in the natural world; stress-free, pollution-free, and able to take time for myself, my thoughts and my photography.

It can become a precious and life affirming time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I hope my discussion has gone some way to help convince you why your local area could be your best photography location. But don’t just take my word for it. Check out this video from well known UK photographer Simon Booth.

Finding Great Images Close to Home