Returning to Familiar Places

Photo taken with a Sony a7cii and a neewer z1s flash

One of the biggest misconceptions in photography is that you always need to find somewhere new.

A new trail. A new state. A new mountain. A new overlook.

While I certainly enjoy exploring new places, I often think I suffer from a bit of wanderlust. Some of my favorite photographs have come from places I've visited dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

There's a small area near my home that I've walked more times than I can count. To someone driving by, it probably looks the same every day. To me, it never is.

One week the wildflowers are blooming. A few weeks later they're gone, replaced by tall grass swaying in the wind. After a summer rain, spider webs appear where there were none just a day before. Insects I hadn't seen all year suddenly become active. The light filters through the trees differently depending on the season, the weather, and even the time of morning.

The more time you spend somewhere, the more you begin to notice changes and discover new things in what once seemed like a familiar place.

You stop looking for the obvious photograph and start noticing the subtle ones. You remember where the butterflies like to land, where the mushrooms tend to appear after a good rain, or which tree catches the first light of sunrise.

Those observations don't happen during a single visit. They come from returning again and again.

I think everyone should have a few places they know well.

Not because those places are famous or spectacular, but because they become familiar enough that you start seeing what others might miss.

It's easy to believe the next great photograph is somewhere else. Sometimes it is.

But more often than not, it's waiting in a place you've already been.

All it asks is that you come back.