Looking for Images vs. Finding Them

I returned from my photo trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan this past weekend; posts covering the specifics of the trip will ensue, beginning next week.  But a series of experiences during my time in the UP placed an idea for a blog entry into my head, and that’s the theme of this post.

Wild Bleeding Hearts & Shamrocks, Trail of Ten Falls, Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

I’ve danced around the subject of “previsualization” (more accurately described simply as “visualization,” in my view) on this blog before.  I’ve also covered the notion of “the shot” mentality when in the field, and tied it all up in a bow or at least attempted to do so.  But I want to return to the subject now.

Lake Willougbhy Black & White, Orleans County, Vermont

There is, in my view, a stark difference between actively looking for a particular image, or type of image, and finding an image or images.  In various previous blog entries, I’ve mentioned that I’ve “stumbled across” this scene or that, which may imply a certain amount of passivity to my explorations. Drawing that inference is, I think, essentially correct.

Lichen Wall, Acadia National Park, Maine

Typically, when I’m out exploring with my camera in tow, I’m looking for something that catches my eye.  And while I acknowledge that it would be folly to operate under the belief that I’m some sort of tabula rasa, unaffected by my experiences and biases, I do think there’s a difference between broadly letting myself react to something–anything–that I find interesting (i.e. finding) and looking for something in particular.

When you look for something in particular, there’s a very real possibility that you won’t find anything else worth photographing.  That’s the danger, in my estimation, of seeking out specific images. 

Forest Floor, Auxier Ridge Trail, Red River Gorge, Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky

This subject was planted in my head–again–during my time in the UP because…well, a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula during the autumn is, in essence, a trip about fall color.  There’s a tendency to wander around looking for the brightest hues.  The problem with this mindset, as you might imagine, is that if your prime directive is color, you’re going to naturally overlook scenes where color is, at the very least, not the prime driver of what makes the scene photogenic.  And, yes, scenes absolutely do exist in the UP in the fall where color is a secondary or tertiary element.  In fact, there are interesting scenes, under such circumstances, where color is entirely irrelevant.  (I believe I found several such spots while I was on location last week and plan to reveal them in a later entry.)  But since autumn in the UP is, as I said, more or less by definition a trip about color, there’s a tendency to lock oneself into a kind of tunnel vision and be so guided by the notion of finding and photographing the most vibrant locations that everything else kind of falls by the wayside.

South Side of Haleakala Black & White, Maui, Hawaii

This example of the UP is just one illustration of the aforementioned tunnel vision problem.  There is an innate tendency, I believe, to carry a preconceived notion about photo opportunities–even those located in places that the photographer has never previously visited–along for the ride, in the form of an intangible piece of gear.  If my mindset is that I’m going to photograph waterfalls or tropical beaches or classic desert scenes…what am I going to overlook at those locations that I’ve informally classified as representative of these genres?

Date Palm, Hot Springs, Big Bend National Park, Texas

Some of this tunnel vision, as I have implied, is certainly inevitable.  But if you can remain aware of this inherent bias, it can be possible to overcome it to at least some degree and that may be enough to keep at least a few gems from being left on the cutting room floor.

Otter Lake black & white, Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan

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