Learn to See Your Surroundings; You Just Might be Surprised

A little over a year ago I moved to the Southern California Desert. I was horrified to find that there is nothing to photograph. I had become spoiled with the lush rich variety of the Smoky Mountains and all I saw out here was brown.

I took pictures and they all looked the same, I eventually quit, but was not happy. I am passionate about photography so I occasionally would take a trip to the coast and shoot some, but it just wasn’t enough. I of course complained to my friends that it’s awful, all brown, nothing to shoot, until they finally got tired of it and told me there is pleanty to shoot, I just wasn’t looking. People that live out here truly believe the desert is beautiful but I couldn’t see it. Finally I bought some books on desert trails, and began asking, not complaining about where to go photograph and hike. My life changed, I began to see things different, I had to really look hard it’s not as easy as point and shoot and you have a gread landscape like I was used too. But then challenge is what makes you grow as a photographer.

I learned that in the desert you don’t shoot a lot of landscapes, but it is better to shoot smaller subject areas to bring out the color and often subject. Wild life is all pretty small and due to the heat are not wandering around like the bears of the Smokys or the deer of the Appalachian and Cascade mountain ranges. There is no water for beautiful reflections or streams for curves to draw the eye in toward the subject. You have to think micro. No . . . not macro, micro as in a small area with a definate subject. Shoot it to make it look like a landscape. In other words I had to learn how to look at my environment in a different way, then boom the desert became a place of numerous photo opportunities. 

Here are some examples. The first photo was taken of the windmill farm using my tried and true landscape style of the Smoky Mountains. It's a pretty blah photo!

Below is the windmill farm at sunrise the next morning, with the main focus on the sky and the windmills. Leaving out the background with all the clutter of  mountains and windmills, greatly improves the aesthetics of the picture. (At least in my opinion)

Another example of viewing the world as micro environments was taken on the Art Smith Trail in Desert Palms, CA. I took a landscape shot of these red flowers with the rocks and mountains in the background. Once again, a not so compelling shot.

However, after looking at it through the micro point of view I chose to shoot just one branch of the tree with the interesting rock formation in the background. Once again the shot below is a much more appealing photograph.

The shot now has depth and character. I'm learning a new way of seeing the world and that in some cases less truly is more. I am no longer stagnant in my photography but growing by leaps and bounds. I still miss the Smoky Mountains, but embrace the new challenges ahead. 

Happy Shooting,

Laura