Go out more

One ting is for sure. You won’t take any photos if you don’t go out to take them!

I made a promise to myself this year and that is to go out more often in the area where I live to see if I can capture some nice images. I have always liked to take photos when I have been travelling but haven’t really explored the district where I live in Sweden for photography.

An image I stumbled upon in the woods not far from my home

That means that I also have to go on location scouting, go somewhere with no expectations to see if I can find potential photo spots. If I get a photo or two it’s a bonus but it’s not the main goal. The goal is to find places I might want to return to, maybe in the autumn, winter, sunset or sunrise.

This place I really want to return to when the light isn’t as harsh

Maybe also in the winter when the ground is covered with snow.

A great tool to have on location scouting is a smartphone. Take a picture at a location that you perhaps want to return to. Put it in a folder (or folders) named after the atmosphere you think will suite the photo. It could be “sunset”, “fog”, “winter” or whatever you want. Then, not only do you have an image of the location, you will also have GPS coordinates.

I wonder how this place would be in early spring when the water level is at it’s peak?

It is difficult to capture images in the area we call “home”. It’s hard to see what’s unique and what’s not, what’s interesting and what’s not. But I think, actually I have a strong belief that the more you try, the more you will succeed. You will fail a lot too, but as some wise man said: “successful people have failed more times than others have even tried”.