I just arrived home yesterday after spending the past month in Europe. In my time there I taught at PhotoPills Camp in Spain, ate far too many pasteis de nata in Portugal, visited friends in Berlin and Amsterdam, and photographed the moon AND sun all over the Netherlands. Yes, it was a whirlwind! The trip also hammered home a few clear photographic lessons, and in this newsletter I wanted to pass those along to you. Those lessons are:
This was a great insight from Dutch photographer Albert Dros into how he finds compositions. In his own words, Albert loves “spectacular landscapes” but he also loves shooting the smaller details of scenes. So in order to shoot many different types of photos, he starts by using an ultrawide lens and getting close to a foreground subject for that immersive, in-your-face look.
But he doesn’t stop there. In order to not get glued to one composition, Albert will then put a longer lens on his camera and get closer to interesting things he finds down low. He will then put on an even longer lens and zoom in closer still to reveal even more interesting perspectives and subjects. It was a great-and simple-reminder that by using a close, closer, closest approach you will find endless inspiration in a single scene.
I’m a moon maniac, a real lunatic, if you will. I love photographing the moon, but I rarely give much thought to shooting her celestial brother, the sun. During PhotoPills Camp however, Spanish photographer Jessica Rojas gave a wonderful presentation about using the sun as a primary subject that left me feeling inspired to try it.
I got a chance a little more than a week later when I was staying with Albert Dros at his home in the Netherlands. We were looking at PhotoPills and realized that if we stood in the middle of the bridge over the Nederrijn River, the sun would set directly behind the stunning church tower in the town of Rhenen. We drove out to the bridge and noticed a few thin clouds swirling near the horizon. As the sun sank into them it created an incredible display of depth, dimension, and character. By using a long lens (approx 400mm) I was able to make both the church tower AND the sun prominent subjects in the photo.
I was stunned! I’d never really thought about photographing the sun like this, but now I’m hooked. If you have a great subject to pair it with, along with a little bit of atmosphere to boot, the sun is incredible to photograph, so give it a try! (Just be careful to protect your lens, your camera, and your eyes properly).
Too many photographers fall into the trap of “knowing” exactly what they are going to shoot, before the shoot even occurs! They go out with their cameras, having already decided that they are going to photograph sunset over the mountains (for example). But rarely does Mother Nature abide by our plans, and so often serves up conditions that don’t meet our expectations. The sunset is a dud, and so we go home thinking that the entire shoot is a bust. When in reality more than likely there was tons to shoot, had we been open to seeing it. This is the problem with plan-based photography.
Instead, if you start off with an idea, but are willing to pivot as conditions change, you will give yourself far more opportunities to do photography. And if you don’t let your expectations determine what you shoot, you will find the photography to be far more satisfying as well.
Albert and I were reminded of this lesson one morning in the Netherlands. We had gone out with my buddy Tijmen to photograph the moon setting over a picturesque windmill. The alignment was perfect, and the scene was beautiful. But as the moon approached the horizon, it found itself sinking into a thick haze that made it essentially invisible.
We could have called it a bust and packed our cameras up. but instead we looked around to see what else was happening. We noticed that behind us, the sun was beginning to rise. Knowing that it would easily penetrate the haze that hid the moon, we raced around to the other side of the windmill, setting up just as the sun cleared the horizon. The rising ball of light stood out dramatically next to the windmill, and illuminated the sky with a vivid color gradient. Meanwhile, sheep and storks wandered through the fields in front of us. It was the most beautiful scene of the morning, and we would have missed it if we had been focused solely on our original plan and nothing else.
When I first started traveling (before I was a photographer), I planned everything, to a level of detail that left no room for spontaneity or organic experiences. This is a good way to achieve goals and get a lot done, but it is NOT a good way to travel. I blame my engineering education for this approach. Since then, having realized a rigid plan often led to me missing out on unexpected experiences, I have strived to be more flexible, more spontaneous, and more go with the flow.
For example, when I was leaving Spain after PhotoPills Camp, I literally just looked at Google Flight Explore to see where the cheapest flights were. Verdict was, Porto, Portugal, where a flight cost a mere 60 EUR. Ever since seeing beautiful photos of the Portuguese coastline over a decade ago, I’d wanted to photograph it, so this seemed like a perfect option. I booked the flight in the evening and the following morning I was on a plane to Porto.
But perhaps my spontaneous approach to travel had swung too far the other way, because I literally didn’t do any research into the Porto area before flying there. So when I arrived and began to look at the coast on Google maps, as well as talking to some Portuguese landscape photographers, I discovered that the dramatic coastline I had been excited to photograph was entirely at the other end of the country! Oops.
In the end, while I had a lovely time in the city of Porto (eating lots of food like the Francesinha sandwich), I didn’t end up doing any coastal photography at all. Whereas if I had done just a tiny bit of research, and come up with at least a basic idea of where to go (ahem, the south), I’m sure my camera would have gotten a much better workout. It was a great reminder that while spontaneity can be a lot of fun, if you have an objective (like doing seascape photography), having at least the beginnings of a plan is a good idea.
Joshua Cripps is a renowned landscape photographer who has garnered worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking images of our planet’s wild places. His photos have been published by the likes of National Geographic, NASA, CNN, BBC, and Nikon Global.
The Mt. Whitney Gallery was founded in 2023 by Joshua Cripps as a way to share his passion stunning landscapes of the Sierra Nevada and beyond.
Set at the foot of the breathtaking Sierra with a view of the range’s highest peaks, the gallery features large format, museum-caliber fine art prints of Josh’s signature photographs.
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4 Responses
My photographs of the Pont D’en Gil don’t look nearly as wonderful as yours does, despite having been there at the same time. It’s a great example of the difference between knowing what to do (me) vs. knowing what you are doing (you)!
Cheers, Stu. I also have the advantage of having been there a bunch and shooting a TON of crap photos before I figured out what to do.
Great write up, Josh with lots of good insights. You know, a very good thing at Porto is that you got to see me!! Win win ? ha! jk
Great point, haha! There were lots of cool silver linings to Porto.