My first photo was an establishing shot of an interesting scene.
I have seen some folks arrive at a scene, look around, bring their camera to their eye and take a single shot, then move on. Perhaps they are just masters at what they do and are able to find and capture the perfect photo in one go. Maybe they’re short on time. Or perhaps they just haven’t learned the benefits of taking the time to work a scene.
I will admit, I don’t always take the time needed to fully explore a scene. Sometimes I don’t even partially explore a scene. But I do try to remind myself to slow down, to look around, to see the scene from different perspectives and different angles, to try getting closer to the subject or further away, to explore the possibility of alternate subjects.
Today’s photos are an example of this, of working the scene while walking through the beautiful paths of Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. It’s such a wonderful location with an endless array of potential subjects and scenes worth photographing. In this particular case I found a portion of the path that caught my eye, how it moved through the gardens, the different colors and textures, the wooden structure in the background. So my first photograph was an establishing shot of the entire scene.
Then I zoomed in a little closer, winnowing down the elements of the scene, focusing attention a little more in one direction. You can do this using a zoom lens or you can physically move yourself around to find different perspectives, to search out the portion of the scene you find most compelling.
I zoomed in a bit, narrowing in on a smaller portion of the scene.
Continuing this further I found myself photographing a small section of the plant life, with a cactus to the right and some flowers down the center with the bottom covered in light green plants.
Continuing this I started finding details, smaller sections of the gardens I found appealing.
And finally, I turned the camera and created a vertical photograph of the scene with the cactus towards the bottom and the field of flowers going out of focus and stretching to the top of the frame.
I kept refining my view of the scene, working the scene.
Did the photos get better as I worked the scene? Not necessarily. But they did change. They gave me new views of the scene. They let me explore it in different ways. And if I’d spent a little more time there I likely could have found more compositions, perhaps some I would have preferred over these.
So next time you’re out with your camera and find something interesting to photograph, try to slow down, to look around. Take the time to work the scene. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.
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