How to Be Inspired by a Familiar Location

by Sean Setters I thoroughly enjoy visiting new destinations and reveling in the photographic inspiration that the unfamiliar scene inevitably engenders. My yearning for exploration is often the result of being blind to the beauty of the all-to-familiar locations I've photographed before. There is a way to help tame the bordem with often visited locations, though. Have you ever heard the phrase, "Absense makes the heart grow fonder?" I'm not altogether sure how true the concept is in relationship terms, but the phrase seems perfectly applicable to locations I've visited and photographed numorous times. For instance, I've photographed this Spanish moss-covered Oak several times primarily because it is only a short walk from my home. However, I hadn't photographed it for quite some time when, a couple of days ago, I decided to take a walk with my IR-converted EOS 7D and EF-S 24mm f/2.8 STM lens. I've photographed this tree under similar, cloudy circumstances with the very same gear and shared the results here before. While I preferred a tighter framing before, I found that the freshly-cut field aided in isolating the tree in the scene thereby allowing a looser framed image to have more impact. It was a minor difference, but one that made a definitive impact on my framing preference. One could also argue that having photographed the tree from a closer perspective meant that I was subconsciously looking for a reason to find/utilize a new perspective, and that would be a fair point. But seeing a familiar scene with fresh eyes helps to get one's creative juices flowing, and being familiar with a location means you're better able to seek out and capitalize on those minor differences that can have positive impacts on your already-photographed location imagery. For the shot above, the exposure settings were f/2.8, 1/2000 second and ISO 100. During post processing, I first inverted the red and blue color channels in and then desaturated the yellow hues to achieve t he traditional IR white foliage look while maintaining the blue color captured by the Super Color IR sensor. Click on the image above for access to a higher resolution version. As the promise of brand new foliage fills the warming seasonal air, now is the time to send your (older, seldom used?) camera in for an infrared conversion to take advantage of the IR photography opportunties that lie ahead. Learn more about infrared photography and IR conversions in our Infrared Camera Conversion by LifePixel Review.
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