What Should I Photograph?
Sometimes I go out with my camera with no specific plans. The question “What Should I Photograph?” is largely unanswered, and I begin to wonder if I won’t have to start traveling in order to find something truly photo-worthy, especially if nature photography is my main goal.
I was feeling this way the other day, when a business partner sent me a link to the wildly popular blog: Cambridge in Colour. Over 10,000 people visit Cambridge in Colour every day to enjoy the photos and learn about photography. I instantly assumed the photographer was professional, and was surprised to learn he was simply a student who spent 3 and a half years working on his PHD in Chemical Engineering! The entire gallery is taken on campus in low light with time exposures, and yet it’s richness and diversity is so terrific it draws 10,000 viewers a day.
Granted, Cambridge is a large and beautiful place that many people visit simply to see the history and grandeur, but it’s definitely a finite theme. There is plenty right here in my city of Kurume to make an entire career in photography as well. “What should I photograph?” becomes a moot question.
One of the natural blessings in our city is the birds. Magpies, which are endangered in most of the world, are everywhere, and there are dozens of varieties of herons and egrets. The blue heron above lives in the central city park, and is quite patient about having a camera pointed at him. I found another blue heron that lives in a pond at the base of the mountain, only 2 minutes drive from my house. Here he is in pre-dawn twilight just before he flew away to go find his breakfast.
It’s amazing how the blue heron and the egret have no problem co-habitating with humans. I remember a big row in Oregon about my grandmother’s farm. There was a colony of great blue herons living in the woods by the river, and the naturalists wanted to declare it a reserve and take the farm away from her so they wouldn’t be disturbed. I believe the blue heron in Japan is a smaller variety, but they live anywhere from the city parks to the rain ditches at the side of the highways.
Cambridge in Colour was a great inspiration to me. The question in my mind, “What should I photograph?” was eloquently answered, and replaced with “How can I increase my skill and better express what I see here in Kurume?” Cambridge in Colour answers that question as well, as it provides a series of lessons as well as a forum. Go check it out. I’m off to look for a blue heron.
Tags: blue heron, cambridge, cambridge in colour, what should I photograph
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What sort of settings did you use on your camera to capture the heron at night? He looks surreal standing there…very nice
I love you heron. It makes me want to go out and meet him some early morning. You are opening up a lot of new areas for me to work on in taking pictures. I just can't keep up with all the new ideas I want to try. I'm still seeing triangles in every scene I look at through my camera and also those wonderful curved lines. Thank you for picking me up out of the “ordinary” pictures to ones that say something special.
I'm afraid that was just a point and shoot with the flash off. I balanced the camera on a post to stabilize it, as was still quite dark.
the first picture you took is lovely. it looks like the ones we see in postcards
Thank you! I'm planning to go see if I can get him in flight soon.