How do you make really great photographs?

[Ron Scubadiver]

Around here I am known for certain things.  For example, I don't think the answer is having the ultimate in gear.  It has to be good, but not great.  I like taking street shots with attractive people in them.

Does a street photographer have to live in New York City?  A lot of great photography comes from there.  Not just grab/candid street photography, but finding subjects on the street and getting them to cooperate.  I manage to do that at certain events in Houston, but have not yet figured out how to do it on an every day basis. 

Travel helps.  Being in an unfamiliar place seems to stimulate one's creative juices.  I travel to the point of distraction.  My next misadventure will literally take me to the end of the earth, want to guess where?

OK, how do you get there.  Is it location, or something else?  There are many paths to photographic fulfillment.

[golunvolo]

Finisterre? Literaly means "the end of the earth" and it is located in north-east Spain.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Such location names are found many places. UK: Land's End. Norway: Verdens Ende (literally: The End of the World). Certainly elsewhere too.

To Ron's question : I don't think one becomes more creative by visiting an unknown part of the world.

[John Geerts]

I agree.  The Tilburg-dutch artist and philosopher Kees Mandos said:  'Als ge 't hier nie ziet, ziede 't daor ook nie' which means roughly translated 'if you don't see it here (your own town) you won't see it there.'

Perhaps its helpful to have a vision or a goal about what you really want to document or shoot. Gear and shooting a lot are just tools and skill leading to the path were you want to go.

[Akira]

Maybe this comparison would offer some food for thoughts:

The images from the top of the Mt. Everest or any unexplored or unreachable places look just awesome.  These images were taken by the photographers who risked their lives just go to such places, which alone is awesome and respectful enough.

On the other hand, people like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau, Vivian Maier etc. were essentially shooting snaps in the city they lived.  There is nothing for special effort to live in their native, familiar cities.  Then, are their images less awesome or respectable than the images by those great explorers?  I think the answer is obvious, even though Paris could be as stimulating and photogenic as New York.

Keeping fresh, flexible and inspired mind should be the key.

I took this word by Confucius as my personal motto: "The eye is blind if the mind is absent."

[Akira]

I've found the meet up with fellow photographers of NG or FZ invaluable exactly in this context, in addition to nurturing friendship.

We visit the same place, we quite often see the same things there and we feel the same atmosphere.  Nevertheless, our resulted images were totally different, even more different than different equipments would deliver.  Of course, this is easy to expect, but the sense of re-assurance has a big impact on your creative mind.

In short, the meet-up is great food of thoughts and source of inspiration.

[Ron Scubadiver]

To Ron's question : I don't think one becomes more creative by visiting an unknown part of the world.

I wasn't thinking that visiting an unknown part of the world would make me more creative.  It is more like just getting away and having different surroundings helps to free the mind.  Hardly anything is unknown today.  Houston has its own difficulties.  The kind of street photography associated with pedestrian friendly cities isn't available here because Houston is car bound.  Areas of high population density are usually enclosed private property with prohibitions on photography.  Until recently we had a law here making it a felony sex crime to take a photograph of a pretty girl without her consent.  Not every photograph would qualify, but you never knew how it would be applied.  Our courts invalidated that law, finally, but it took a long time.

However, some of the most interesting photos I have are of people, not so much within the city, but from nearby areas.  Sometimes when you don't have much to work with it can force you to work harder.

Where I am going next month does not have a name suggesting its remoteness, to the best of my knowledge.  I expect to have fun, but don't know if the shooting will be wonderful or not.

Perhaps I should drive down the Gulf Coast from New Orleans to Tampa,  Jimmy Buffet land. 

[Tristin]

I agree with the others, new places won't improve your photography.  Scenes of grandeur are easier to make pleasing images of, sure, but that's not *you* getting better. 

My advice is to be more critical of your work.  Up your standards.  Look at your images, consider what would have improved them, then scrap those that aren't up to the new standard you want to set for yourself.

Since you enjoy photographing beautiful women, have you considered trying out a studio lighting setup and shooting models?  If you want to stay in the streets, I would suggest getting more intimate photographs.  Something like a 180mm f/2.8 or 200mm f/4 are relatively cheap in manual form, and can give you reach combined with relatively compact size.  I wouldn't try shooting intimate street pictures of women with anything less than 135mm probably, and definitely not with a bulky zoom.

[Fons Baerken]

It is often in the unexpected, uncalculated and very much overlooked moment, since we're mostly preoccupied and caught in a wave of thoughts and projections.

[schwett]

I think you need to have a point of view or idea that can be expressed through the image. If the ideas you're interested in exploring or expressing are about people, then you probably need to be somewhere with people. If you're fascinated by some aspect of nature, say some kind of symbiosis, it will be tough to get inspired without access to nature.

personally, i'm moved by a lot of things - modern or ancient architecture, light, landscapes, wildlife, people.... so I travel to places which have those things, or I seek them out at home. when inspiration is lacking, I do find the focus of a new place and the more intensive concentration that getting "away" allows to be useful.

to ron's point about Houston, as a professional architect and amateur photographer, I'm not inspired by america's car-centric cities. they have many virtues, but not for me, so I don't really seek them out for photography or other purposes. I suppose I'd ask an avid photographer who lived in Houston or San Jose or Tampa or Atlanta whether there was some other interesting or visually compelling aspect of the place that inspired photographic exploration?

[rosko]

is located in north-east Spain.

I would rather say north-west...! 

There is one too in France : le Finistère, in Brittany.

But not as further as the Spanish one. Both Celtic areas.

[golunvolo]

I would rather say north-west...! 

There is one too in France : le Finistère, in Brittany.

But not as further as the Spanish one. Both Celtic areas.

  Yes, nort-west, my mistake. 

[Lars Hansen]

I wasn't thinking that visiting an unknown part of the world would make me more creative.  It is more like just getting away and having different surroundings helps to free the mind. 
 

[/quote]

I took this word by Confucius as my personal motto: "The eye is blind if the mind is absent."

It is often in the unexpected, uncalculated and very much overlooked moment, since we're mostly preoccupied and caught in a wave of thoughts and projections.

when inspiration is lacking, I do find the focus of a new place and the more intensive concentration that getting "away" allows to be useful.

Taking my camera to unknown places inspires me and I do feel more focused and present. And my mind takes a good rest as well. Even in the nearest city if it's unknown to me or the next landscape around the corner. I do not feel the same immediate inspiration in known surroundings - instead the inspiration is more about exploring known places/things/situations under different conditions: light, new angles, events etc. I can't say what results in best photography or what is the most creative process but taking my camera to new places is where I feel most present and inspired.         

[Bruno Schroder]

Travelling to a destination is one thing but special events are very interesting too. For your kind of photography, I think you should absolutely be in Avignon for the day before and the day of the opening of the festival. Not that the other days are uninteresting but as the festival is in French, it can get boring fast if you don't speak the language .

At that time in Avignon, it is usually sunny and warm and the thousands of actors, actresses, theatres, musicians, are promoting their plays in the street, willing to be photographed.

Another event, of a very different kind, is the 24 hours bike race of Louvain-La-Neuve in Belgium end of October ... early November with 40.000 university students flooding the city for the second largest beer drinking event of Europe after the Oktober Feesten. They're not dressed to be attractive and the weather can be very rainy but it is street photography as you've probably never seen it. The city itself is car free and could be very interesting on a sunny day in May ... June..

BTW, if someone knows about similar opportunities elsewhere ...

[IAW1965]

When I first got my D300 I spent a lot of time and money traveling around Britain in an effort to capture classic Landscape views.  After five weeks crisscrossing England to capture Bluebells I was forced to evaluate why I was failing.  To often I was turning up hoping that just by following the steps of others I'd seen images from that I liked and falling short because I didn't understand the light and topography.

Then I decide to focus on a local landscape and understand it's light and points of view over the next two years I started to understand what to expect where and when dependent on season and weather.  Over this time I also mastered the controls and upgraded to a D3x. Now I can pick up a camera and find something worthy of photographing over the estate even when it is grey and overcast.

I decided that I would carry a camera when doing the day job and record what I see on my travels over familiar ground.  Most times I can find something of interest.  I am also engaged on three long term projects that have forced me to educate myself and better plan visits to photograph.

I would say that it's about observing things better you can do so as part of a "safari" or recording what is your everyday life. If you undertake a "safari" you will usually have a "guide" who knows the landscape to insure that you come away with something of value.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I have come to accept that my work can be good but don't expect every image to be exceptional.