ON ICONIC PLACES AND BUCKET LISTS
I guess I shouldn’t really blame it on the work for the new website, but it’s just that selecting images has made me think further about some of the photography videos we’ve watched over the past six months or so. Much like the press, it seems like vloggers (is that really a term?) will latch onto the same topic and suddenly it will seem like everyone is discussing the same thing. So it was that Ann and I had watched a few videos (or read articles) about whether photographers should go to iconic places and photograph the same thing a million other photographers (or a billion other people with cameras if the place was suddenly “found” via instagram) have photographed? A related, but somewhat different, topic is whether you should have a bucket list (oh how I hate that term, but people know what you mean when you say it)?
I’ve talked a bit about iconic places and iconic images before a bit. There’s a post about “The Tree” in the Portland Japanese Gardens (Just because it was famous on Instagram doesn’t mean Ann knew about that image before she realized what an incredible image it would make photographing it from ground level. It was an original image from that perspective, but also one that so many other people have also wanted to duplicate from seeing someone else’s image of it.), and about photographing in Yosemite (the Cathedral of St. Ansel), but it was time to revisit the topic in my head. That’s in part because, as we start preparing for the bimobil pick-up and (hopefully) our adventures in Europe (properly vaccinated, masked and social distancing), we are invariably going to be going to some of the most heavily photographed spots in the world (if we have any luck at all at being able to travel).
It’s easy for me to dismiss the bucket list concept right off the bat. Yes, we have places we want to go to. But none of them are a “I have to do this before I die” or “my life will be fulfilled if I can go there.” And certainly what we do not do is, “Check of the box Hon! Been here, done that! We’ve seen it, now on to the next item on the list!” We go to places because they appear to be interesting locations to photograph, which means they are often stunningly beautiful. But we reject a lot of places that appear to offer only one or two locations from which to make a picture (and don’t stay too long at places we discover, usually to our disappointment, that there really is only one view to photograph). We prefer interesting environments that we can wander around in, take our time and explore with our cameras. And even when it is an iconic location, we’re often found off on some side trail checking things out. I guess the best description about how we operate came from a couple we ran into at two separate locations on one of our Utah trips. We first ran into them in Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, where they passed us photographing along a trail. They went up the far ends of the canyon for about an hour and returned to find us about 100 yards farther along the trail, photographing away. They stopped for a little chat (he did video work and had done some photography). Then three days later (after their trip to Bryce Canyon, shortened by an emergency call from work), they ran into us on a hilltop in Snow Canyon - a side trip on their way back to Las Vegas to catch a plane home. The guy mentioned that we were so unlike his mother - she wanted to go to a place, get a picture of it and then run off to the next location. “She has an amazing collection of pictures of places she’s been to, but none of them are photographs. I like the way you guys just take your time to explore locations. I’d rather travel with folks like you than my mom.” That’s just a long way of saying we don’t do bucket lists, although many of the places we hope to go to are on people’s bucket list.
As for iconic locations, well, they’re hard to avoid. Face it, most are stunningly beautiful, even if a given view has been photographed a million times. Who wouldn’t want to see these places? My attitude about photographing such places is a pragmatic one. Basically, there is nothing wrong with making an image of an iconic place, especially if there are some photographic qualities to it. Just don’t expect it to be truly unique or original . . . like my image below from Dead Horse Point State Park next to Canyonlands NP. In some ways, I think it’s better to make the photograph, get it out of your system, and then get back to thinking about what else might make a wonderful photograph (something I was partially guilty of not doing at Dead Horse Point).
And that is the thing. These iconic places are often fertile ground for photographs, you just have to get your mind off the image (or type of image) that led you to go there in the first place. When scouting locations, we are looking for places that seem like they would be interesting to photograph and will offer a variety of photographic images, not a location where we can get a particular photograph. There’s a difference in that type of thinking.
And if you can do it, if you can be receptive enough, you can make a photograph like Ann’s photograph of a tree at Dead Horse Point. It is stunning. Go on Instagram and look up Dead Horse Point and I bet you won’t see a single image of this tree. I’ll often joke that, once you’ve made an image (especially one you think is really good), take a moment to turn around 180 degrees and see what’s behind you. While Ann’s image wasn’t quite taken from the same spot as mine, it uses the same concept. She was right behind my back, probably 30 yards away looking in the opposite direction from where I was for the photograph above. In-between us was a covered picnic/viewing area and some wide side-walks and, if I recall correctly, a low stone wall. And behind this lovely rock outcropping with the stunning tree is a parking lot. Everyone in our group walked past this tree to get to the view above, the iconic view. Only Ann saw the tree below and made the photograph. Ann’s is the better photograph.
There’s another example worth remembering from that trip. A few days later we made a trip to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. But instead of going to the traditional location right by the arch (we may have to do that some time . . . on a day we’re willing to tolerate the crowds), we opted to go to an alternate viewpoint, separated from the arch by a narrow, deep canyon.
When we got there, it was overcast with no morning light peeping through. Fortunately for us, one of our traveling colleagues forgot a lens and had to hike back to the car to get it. We would have time to see if the clouds would break. Eventually, after quite a bit more waiting, the sun came out for about 10 minutes and we were able to make the photographs we were hoping to make. Here is one of the several different images that I made from those opportune moments. (In case you were wondering, yes, I cloned out a bunch of people who were walking about the arch.) But I don’t think it was the best image I made from that outing.
While waiting (read: hoping) for the sun to break through the clouds, I walked over to where Ann had set up her tripod to talk with her. The rock surface was pretty rough (I could feel it through my boots) and got rougher as I approached Ann. As I chatted with her I looked down at my feet and realized there was a whole world there that we’d been missing (and walking on top of). So I ran back, grabbed my camera and pointed it down to the textured surface to frame a composition. As I was making my photographs (3 different compositions), our colleague returned from the car (long lens in hand) and asked, “Dan, what are you doing?” “Making my best photograph of the day!” I enthusiastically responded. I ignored his dismayed harrumph!
And I was right. This one isn’t even the best of the bunch, and it’s a better photograph than the one above.
So looking through these images has been a good reminder. Yes, we will hopefully be going to some of the most iconic places (and now photographic hot spots) Europe has to offer. But whether it’s in Iceland, or Norway, or Scotland, England or France, we should remember that there’s nothing wrong with taking the iconic image, so long as we get on with exploring the site for even better photographs.