Think a good photographer can take a great photo anywhere? Fuhgeddaboudit!

I know, I know, it’s not the camera, it’s not the location, it’s the photographer. Just ask Daido Moriyama, who built his career using Nikon Coolpix compact cameras. But what if this notion that a good photographer can take a great photo anywhere is making some of us (myself included) lazy? Here me out...

I see plenty of beginners and enthusiast photographers who take lovely images. They’re well-composed, free from camera shake, and in focus. But when I look at their portfolio, I notice a familiar trend. The majority of the images are captured in the same locations, and in some cases, in the same conditions and at the same time of day.

And while I do believe that a good photographer can take a great photo anywhere, that’s not an excuse to stay put and fall into the same old photography routine. How do I know this? Because I’ve been there, focusing all of my attention on the photography and very little attention on the subject. Sure, if you live or work in Midtown Manhattan, you could probably spend your entire photography life documenting the same few blocks. But the vast majority of photographers need to seek out subjects.

I recently wrote an article regarding an excellent interview with the legendary Neil Leifer, who talked about luck playing a role in sports photography. But you still have to be there, you still have to get yourself ringside, trackside, or pitchside to get lucky in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong with taking photographs in the same place. Plenty of wildlife photographers and street photographers have a local patch, many landscape photographers have a favorite location. But they’ve still put in the work to find these regular haunts. As a beginner or even an enthusiast photographer, it’s very easy to take your camera out on the same dog walk, lunchtime stroll, or work commute, day in, day out, and assume that you’ll somehow progress just by having your camera by your side.

And this applies to every photographer. I love photographing sports, and every year I take my camera to Thruxton Race Circuit, where I watch the British Superbike Championship with my dad. Good photography vantage points are few and far between, so I capture the same old images at the same old locations.

Well, last year, I decided to shake things up and spent less of my time shooting the on-track action and more of my time shooting behind-the-scenes images in the paddock. And whaddya know? I came home with a much more varied selection of images, and some great shots I simply never would have captured otherwise (see main image).

So, be honest, if you’ve found yourself leaning on the same old photography routine, thinking you can capture a great photo anywhere, put this notion to the test. Take a photo anywhere – anywhere else!

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