is Photography a Contact Sport?

When it comes to photography, the more times you go out and shoot, the better the chances for great shots. Makes sense right? In this post, I will go over why I go back to locations over and over until I get the shot that I want. I will show a few photos from Prague to illustrate my point.

When I began my photography journey I somehow thought that the incredible shots that you see on Instagram or on various online websites happen spontaneously. I thought a photographer just happened to be in the right spot at the right time I kept thinking wow how lucky to get such a shot

It is however much more likely that these great shots are well planned. Good photographers are scouting locations in advance, using Google Earth to find good locations, or using apps like PhotoPills, to see when the moon will line up precisely with the Statue of Liberty for example.

I am not saying that you cannot take great shots just walking around but the chances of great shots dramatically increase with good planning or by going back repeatedly until you get the conditions you want.

There are so many factors (weather, construction, road closing, protests) that can affect the quality of the images we get. One of the most important factors, especially when we are traveling, is weather. There is nothing worse than getting to an epic location early in the morning and having rain or a muted sunrise.

Oftentimes, when I am in a location I want to shoot - I will keep going back until I get the sky I was hoping for. If I am lucky it might happen on day 2 or 3. I have found that weather apps are increasingly unreliable. On a recent trip to the Dolomites, the weather apps indicated it would rain each day. We never had any rain.

When I was in Prague last May it took me 5 times to finally get the sunrise I wanted over the Charles Bridge Yes, I am persistent!! Look at the photos below, taken from the same spot, to see why it’s important to keep going back. Persistence does pay off. The difference between Day 1 and Day 5 is dramatic. The photo on Day 1 is so boring but coming back over and over finally led to the photo on Day 5

Day 1 —I would rate this Sunrise 1/10—VERY BORING GRAY SKY

Day 2 - Not much better a 2/10 SKY—BORING

Day 3 - A tiny bit of color maybe a 2.5/10—STILL BAD

Day 4 - I was happy with this sky - about an 8 out of 10

Day 5 - Success at last—a 9/10 SKY

So if you want to take better photos proper planning is essential. The other essential factor is to revisit photography locations multiple times until you get the conditions you are hoping to see. Persistence does pay off