Locations . . .
By
John Terence Turner
Stock Asylum Columnist
Feb. 11, 2008
©
2006 John Terence Turner
We’ve all been there. Let’s
see if you recognize this situation.
I’m imagining a new stock photography project.
I have an activity in mind. I have a model in mind. I visualize a location with specific qualities –– the light comes from a certain direction, the background looks one way, the foreground another.
In my imagination, everything is perfect.
Then reality intrudes: “I’ll never find a place with all those features. I only have so much time before the seasons change. The model is available for only a few days." Any other number of real-life conflicts can put pressure on a photographer.
At this point, I sometimes remember a location with all the necessary features. But I’ve used it before. Is that a problem?
Where is it written that, “Thou canst not use the same location more than once or thy worthless carcass will be cast into the fires of hell?”
There is no commandment that says a location is good for only one shoot. And there are good reasons to milk a rare location for everything it is worth.
Convenience is one of the main reasons. If a location does a great job, why re-invent the wheel?
There have been times when I’ve searched fruitlessly for a perfect location only to realize that I already had such a location in my book.
 These four images were all made at the same piece of rock in the central part of Washington State. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
There are ways of using a location a second (or third or fourth) time and still make it look different.
For example, the climbing shots above feature the same arête in central Washington.
I like this place because the arête protrudes far enough from the rest of the wall that I can shoot it from two sides. Also, it is mostly backlit, so the sun doesn’t flatten the climber against the wall as it would if it were behind the camera position.
In the first shot, my climber, Nikki, is pleasingly back-lit as she stretches for a hand-hold (28-70mm f2.8 Nikkor). In the second shot, Aimeé is seen from the other side of the same place (80-200mm f2.8 Nikkor).
In the third shot, I’m much farther back, shooting on an overcast winter day and this picture shows more scenery and gives the viewer a dramatic view of the height of this basalt arête (300mm f2.8 Nikkor).
Finally, in order to create a different, more intimate look, I am hanging in a harness right next to Aimeé on the side of the rock column.
Since I’m shooting with a wide lens (17-35mm Nikkor), the surface of the rock, the hardware around her waist, and even her hair have texture and depth that provide an immediacy that are not delivered by more distant camera locations.
All four of these pictures were taken of the same piece of basalt, but I was in different places using different lenses.
Those concepts are keys to being able to re-use a location.
The next pictures illustrate the difference in the light at slightly different times in the evening. The first shot is of a couple talking and laughing as they walk near the Public Market in Seattle.
The reason I’m using this area is the antique style street lamps that illuminate that portion of First Avenue. They are the white orbs you see in the upper right hand-corner of the shot.
I chose twilight since I wanted a lot of ambient light in addition to the street and traffic lights.
 Shooting at different times of the day can make the same location look very different. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
In order to blur the background lights I shot with a 600mm Nikkor f4 lens.
My assistant was walking backwards just in front of and to the side of the couple. He was carrying a strobe that was triggered by a radio-slave.
I intentionally used slow shutter speeds so that the couple would blur as they walked briskly towards the camera. The blurring adds to the authenticity of the picture by making it less formal.
The next use of this location is with a younger couple at a later time of night. Since they are “out on the town,” I wanted real darkness.
I used the same equipment as in the previous shot. The extreme length of the lens compresses the streetlights into a mysterious urban blur that says big city but doesn’t have sharp details that compete with the models.
The next series was shot — in different years –– in the same location only feet from a busy street near Lake Washington in Seattle. These blossoms are only photogenic for about one week each year.
They are not in an orchard, but are planted in a row on a narrow strip of grass that separates the street from a footpath at the edge of the lake.
 Sometimes a location is only good for a short period of time each year, as is the case with these blossoming cherry trees. ( © John Terence Turner ). |
Accordingly, I used a long lens to fill the frame with cherry blossoms while keeping passing cars out of the frame. These pictures were all shot with a 300mm f2.8 wide open to blur the background.
Once this narrow little world is populated with models, choirs sing, orchestras play and romance blossoms — as long as it doesn’t rain.
Compare the wedding shot with the couple embracing.
In the former, the feeling airy and the blossoms are spread out. In the second, because the couple is much closer to the camera, the background is completely out of focus.
I made sure to include the blossoms on the sides of the frame to relate to the branch of blossoms the male model is holding. The denser look of the second shot feels different than the wedding picture.
Because these trees only bloom in April and because it is Seattle, the clouds come and go and the light changes — sometimes from minute to minute.
Therefore, the pink blossoms in some shots are more intense than in others. Sometimes the models have a little harder light on their faces than others.
It means that there is a variety of light from shoot to shoot.
Having a good library of locations is crucial.
Being able to re-use locations makes sense from a both an aesthetic and a business standpoint.
Becoming familiar with a location can mean that you get more out of it on a subsequent visit.
And time you don’t spend looking for locations is time you can spend shooting and making money.
(John Terence Turner has been shooting stock photography for 20 years. His work can be seen at Getty Images, Alamy and, of course, The Stock Asylum, where his column appears twice a month. He lives and works in Seattle, WA.)
Turner's web site can be found at: http://www.johnterenceturner.com.
For more of his images: click here.
For all of Turner's columns: click here.
