If I heard it once, I’ve heard it a hundred times from friends and fellow landscape photographers. We love the big scenes-big cities, big mountains. We’re tired of our “back yards”. We want this pandemic to be over for a thousand reasons, and one of the biggest is our desire to travel and explore again.
I hear ya’-and I’m with you – but you still have options…
Several years ago, after moving from Michigan-where I had been for 23 years – back to Pennsylvania, I found myself not familiar with the area like I wanted to be, and unsure where to go to capture new images.
After signing up for several Meet up groups in the area, and subscribing to blogs that focused on places to get out and explore, instead of putting places that interested me on a bucket list (that I may or may not ever get to), I gave myself a personal challenge – to photograph 50 places during that year. They could be anything from a local park, to a museum, to waterfalls-or even an interesting piece of architecture or shop. The only rule was that they had to be 50 places I had never been before. To help facilitate this, I used Google maps to star places of interest. When I would have a day free to go out and explore, I would try to pick areas where I might be able to visit more than one spot along the way. You can also keep notes within those saved places for info such as best-or worst times to visit, and anything else you may want to know before heading out.
By the end of the year, I had photographed over 72 new places! I explored back roads and country-sides, and tons of local places in between; and went deeper into discovering the special places in areas that I thought I was familiar with. Even though I never ventured further than three hours away from home, it truly was a great adventure!
Since I started in the winter, and I’m not one who enjoys being cold, I spent a bunch of time visiting a bunch of interesting museums.
I started with the AACA Museum in Hershey-because I love the challenge of creating artistic images with automobiles.
After about 4 hours of shooting in the warmth of the museum, we (the friend that joined me, that likes being cold even less, and promised we’d stay inside) convinced me we should go down the road to ZooAmerica, -in the snow and below freezing temperatures!
It was brutal, but I ended up with some of the best wildlife images I’ve ever captured, as we had the thrill of watching three wolves wrestling for one mouse. The shots were fantastic! And experiencing that moment never would have happened had I not forced myself to get out in the cold, and explore places I had never been-and put a timeline on it that forced me to visit somewhere at least weekly.
This actually all happened back in 2016. Since then I’ve continued to explore my area and passionately pursue seeking out “New Landscapes”. This theme will actually become a series of blog posts that will hopefully inspire you to check out all that you have local to you. So stay tuned for more!
This passion –and all that I learned from that 52 week project, fuels the choices I make in setting up the workshops-or Photo Treks that I lead.
At least once a month, often times more, I have the privilege of taking small groups on a discovery journey of their own. We have a great time and they always come away with fantastic and unique images.
So what about you?
Are you going to just sit there, staring out the window, feeling caged, longing to get out and explore-just dreaming of the places you long to be? Or are you going to plan yourself a little adventure now? It may not be on a plane – or even out of your state, but you’ll be amazed at what you may find, if you put your heart into it!
So what are you waiting for?! Schedule an adventure yourself today!
And I’d love to hear about where you went and what you did in the comments below.
Now go!!! And here’s a little inspiration to get you started;)
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” ~Dr. Seuss
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
Any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
So…
You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!
Oh, and one more thing…
If you’d like to join me for a fun adventure, then click back to the home page and scroll down to check out some of the upcoming events we have going on. Would love to have you join us!
P.S. I began writing this post weeks ago. Back then I had no idea that Dr Seuss would become a controversial subject. Please don’t read anything into this, other than an inspirational word to get and explore :-}