One of the questions I’m often asked (other than whether I have woodland animals nesting in my beard) is how do I find the crazy locations I use for some of my photo shoots. Bearing in mind that sometimes it’s the bride asking me this, during her wedding, at a venue of her choosing, it sometimes seems like a strange question to ask. But it does highlight one of the skills that all good photographers have - the ability to look at the world in a slightly different way.
If you look through my work you’ll see that some of the locations I use look totally wild, but in reality any location can be made to look a certain way with either a small amount of manipulation or the right camera angle. Of course I can add to the effect in photoshop, but I like to get things as close to perfect as possible in the camera, and that can be done with positioning and imagination.
Let’s go back to that bride at a wedding asking me about bizarre locations for a moment - I can guarantee you that even at the poshest wedding venue I can find a funky corner to take some wild photos for you. But of course some of the really freaky photos I take for my clients require a little more planning.
So how do I find the locations I use for planned freak-shoots? Well the truth is that I’m always on the lookout for places that will look good in your photos. Have you ever been following a driver who appears to be going slow for no particular reason? That might just be me you’re stuck behind, and something has probably just caught my eye. These days I’m not holding up quite as much traffic as I used to, and that’s largely thanks to Google Earth. If I spot something great I’ll make a mental note to check it when I get home.
I’m going to end this blog post with a challenge - you tell me the type of shoot you desire and I’ll find somewhere to get you the photos you want.