Show Notes

It’s January 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic still has a strong grip on the planet. It has certainly curtailed my travels and photo expeditions. Yet that got me thinking… what is my photo library filled with? Lots and lots of photos of places I visit often - and those places are close to home. And that presents an opportunity for a photographic study… variations on a theme.

In today’s podcast, I explore this notion of variations on our oft-photographed subjects and share three ideas to pursue your own variations on a theme

1. The Something Same, Something Different approach. The subject or location remains the same, so you the photographer can vary something else. Change your composition and put the signature subject in a different part of the frame. Alter your angle to the subject - get low or go high. Try changing your lens. Get close and shoot wide or step back and reach in with a long lens. Try a different depth of field. Pay attention to how each of the changes you make changes the dynamic of the captured frame.

2. The Anti-Photo. When at a location with a signature subject or a classic composition, make a photo that is not about that subject or composition. The signature subject can be in the frame, but the story of the photo should be about something else.

3. A Study Over Time. Our frequent haunts can become long-term photo projects. Capture the same scene in different weather or different times of the day. The happenings in the scene over time - visitors, vendors, events - can become the source of variation as well.

Also, review the images in your library of your frequently visited places as a source of inspiration. What photos would round out the story of a place?

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