Photo Therapy

There is something very liberating with photography when there is no brief, no deadline, no editor, no customer, no 'message' to try and push out, no other bullshit relating to work, no office politics and all that crap and you can just turn up somewhere and wander around and shoot pictures as and when you want and of what you want.



I seem to have spent the last few weeks photographing nothing but dead soldiers at RAF Lyneham ( http://ianforsyth.blogspot.com/2010/01/white-tent.html ) and I was getting fed up with that so this weekend I wanted to get away and Weymouth in Dorset on the South coast was where I found myself today after driving for an hour or so from Salisbury for a bit of a photo trip. I had no plan and no photo ideas I just wanted to get out, see what turned up and shoot some pictures - you could call it photo therapy!



Another great thing about doing this is that I can get the primes out, leave the bulky zooms behind, and travel nice and light. For this jaunt I was with two D3's, a 20mm 2.8 on one and an 85mm 1.4 on the other and my 50mm 1.8, which is always with me in my small bag, and that's about it. I'm a firm believer in shooting primes when possible, not completely from a 'quality of the image' point of view, because most good, fast zooms are great quality, but for your own progression as a photographer.



If you shoot primes your composition will improve, guaranteed, you develop your 'eye' better and it forces you to think about your photography more and you do see pictures in a different way, occasionally you might miss a picture you see or you may really have to work to get into position - but what you gonna do - if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

There is always plenty of 'stuff' to shoot in a coastal town and usually, as it was here, when out of season, you can get a whole different perspective especially when the crowds of holiday makers and tourists have yet to descend on the place.



So if you get the chance, get out and about for some photo therapy, leave all the heavy gear at home and travel light, forget about 'new camera' this and 'new software' that and all the rest of the crap that seems to occupy the thoughts of people every day and concentrate on taking some pictures, learn and develop your skills and think about the photography.