Landscapes created at the wrong hours
According to one of the “rules” in photography, you should only be out photographing the early and late hours of the day, when magic light happens, it seems. Nothing against it, as long as you leave those landscapes free of photographers, just for me…
I must admit, I wrote the note above with some irony. Because, recently, I came across the same “truth” written somewhere on the web. While I agree that there is some great light in the early and late hours of the day, the profusion of images taken at those hours makes me feel a bit distressed. I am just imagining how it will be, in the most visited places, to find a free spot to “park your tripod”.
There’s a valid reason for me to say this. Imagine that everybody goes to those popular end of the day magnificent “hot spots” — as some call them — at the same time. There will, probably, be a line of photographers waiting to have a free square meter to place their tripod. And they will, probably, if they do follow some kind of “cookie-cutter” recipe of colours and picture styles, all have a similar photo to share on their Facebook for some “Like-hunting”. Sincerely… I do not get it.
Light may be different, but there is light all day round, and even around midday, when, according to the “laws of being professional”, photographers should be doing something else, there is good light to photograph. It may be different, but it also gives you a different experience from those endless shots of early and late hours of the day. So, why not take the challenge and go out looking for some good photos?
There is also another thing that bugs me. If you’re traveling, and visiting a place, do you make the best of all the light available during the WHOLE day or do you just go out two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon? Or even less if you’re there for just those magic moments of blue and golden light.
Those landscapes by the end of the day seem fantastic because we do not see like the camera does and many people never are around in those hours to see the light. Doing something good with “normal light” is more challenging, many times. To a certain extent it can also be more rewarding, because there are more challenges when you’re working with something most people think is common.
When I take people to some places I cherish the most, because they’ve one day or maybe two to be with me, we make the best we can of the light available during the whole day. Because if you’ve a list of places to visit and time is short, no “magic hours” photography will give you the chance to take home images that show the places visited.
The images published here are examples of what I preach… and do. If you take the time to browse through the texts I write and the photographs published with them, you’ll find many of the images are taken within a period of time we, in fact, should be home, according to the “rules”. Forget the rules, those and others, is my suggestion. In fact, a famous photographer said it, although in a different way. Elliot Erwitt wrote ”If you’re out and about amongst lots of people, follow the crowd for a while, then turn around 180 degrees in the exact opposite direction to change things up and introduce new perspectives. It’s always worked for me!” I guess it should also apply to hours and many other “rules” in photography. In fact, I recently wrote another note, about the so called “rule of thirds”.
So, this is an invitation for you to think out of the box and do photography any hour you want. And if you happen to be in Portugal and need a guide to some places like those shown here, do get in touch for a One2One tour or a small group (never more than 4 persons). Any day of the week.
Final note:
This text was initially published in 2015 (although the idea has been explored long before that, in print and online texts published elsewhere) and the version published here was adjusted to reflect the changes and inclusion of more photographs. I republish it because it makes sense to share these ideas with people, trying to help them see the practice of photography as more of a personal endeavor than a box of rules. If you’re not working professionally and for clients, have fun with your camera. It will make your life better.
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