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What do you do when youโ€™re an educator and teacher that has taught over 100 online courses and 99% of them are NOT on your own website where you make your living?

Believe it or not, this thought brought me around to a really good photography topicโ€ฆ the one mentioned in the title: The Two Types of Photo Opportunities Youโ€™ll Encounter. I promiseโ€ฆ Itโ€™s not all self-serving for me to just talk about my courses (notice I said โ€œall) ๐Ÿ™‚

Hereโ€™s the scoop. This is a photo lesson, that turned into a personal story, and weaves between the two. Iโ€™ll start with a quick note about the personal story part. Then the bulk of this is about the photography part. Finally, if you care to read on, Iโ€™ll jump back to the personal story. Readyโ€ฆ goโ€ฆ

Part 1: Personal Story

I was in New York the other day for a project with B&H Photo and Adobe. But Iโ€™m also in the midst of finishing up a Long Exposure course. I was going to do one of the videos at a location nearby in Tampa, but then I realized NY had a great spot for this. If anything, a fresh location keeps me (the educator) fresh. Which in turn, keeps the content fresh and hopefully more helpful for you.

When I arrived the other evening there were a lot of people around. So I started thinking about where Iโ€™d set up and take the photo. And at first, I just sat there on the rocks, looking around at the water, and this gorgeous skyline behind it.

Then I realized, thereโ€™s so much more to this scene then just the technical part of setting up for a long exposure photo. I grabbed my phone and started recording me talking about this for the course. And I got really excited because I knew I was providing something really different than I had done before in my courses on a similar topic.

Part 2: How This Relates to Photographyย 

Well, if you read the previous part, you may notice that I face two challenges as an educator:

  1. Iโ€™ve already done this training before, so what can I do different or better?
  2. If itโ€™s a class I havenโ€™t done before, itโ€™s most likely a topic someone has. There are very few topics that havenโ€™t been touched on out there.

And that got me thinking that photographers face something very similar.

  1. What happens if you go to a location that youโ€™ve already shot before?
  2. And if you havenโ€™t already shot it, chances are someone else has. There are very few places, that we have access to, that havenโ€™t been shot before.

Part 3: What to do if youโ€™re the Photographer who relates to the Statements in Part 2?

I hear and see it all the time. Photographers go to common photo spots and donโ€™t know what to do. I teach workshops and I see people walk off in a totally different direction than the usual spot. I see others that plant themselves and never move, and a range of behaviors in between.

Well, hereโ€™s what Iโ€™d say. Letโ€™s tackle scenario #1 first. Youโ€™re going to a location that youโ€™ve probably been before. I think this is important because we all probably have places around us that are easy to photograph, but weโ€™ve been there before. Well, we donโ€™t want to not go, because that can lead to becoming stagnant. The more you can get out and shoot the better

So if youโ€™re in that group, and headed some place youโ€™ve already shot Iโ€™d suggest trying this. Ask yourself what you can do different.

As an example, Iโ€™ve been to Multnomah Falls outside of Portland about 8 times. But every time I go, I try to do something different.

Sometimes I shoot the falls close up. Sometimes I shoot the entire thing from top to bottom with a wide angle. Sometimes I stay out in the parking lot and shoot the trees that are hundreds of yards away, framing the waterfall. Or maybe walk up the path to the bridge above (and get soaked).

Or sometimes I play with my camera gear and try different settings, and experiment in hopes that I learn a few things thatโ€™ll prep me for a better shoot somewhere else. The point is, if youโ€™ve already done it, then you need to think about what you can do different.

Now, on to scenario #2โ€ฆ and this is REALLYย important. In fact, maybe more important than what we just talked about.

What happens if youโ€™re going to a location that youโ€™ve never shot before, but you know itโ€™s been photographed by others?ย I think the most common thing I see people do is try to do something different than the others do. Which isnโ€™t a bad plan at all.

But let me pose this to youโ€ฆ while other photographers may have shot it before – YOU havenโ€™t. You havenโ€™t put your style, composition, thought, lens, focal length, conditions, and post-processing style on that location. All of those things make that photo yoursโ€ฆ even if others have taken it before.

Iโ€™m not necessarily saying to try to do something different. What Iโ€™m saying is, try to do whatโ€™s right for you and the photograph you want to take AND (here’s a really important part…) the audience you have that will enjoy it. That last part is key by the way. If you donโ€™t think you have an audience, think again.ย Hopefully youโ€™re not taking photos so that people on Flickr or 500px โ€œlikeโ€ your photo and tell you that youโ€™re awesome, and the photo is the best thing theyโ€™ve seen.

You all have your audience. Friends, family members, co-workers, camera club friends, etcโ€ฆ They are your audience. And they donโ€™t troll the internet reading forums and blogs, and have no idea that maybe Multnomah Falls has been photographed a million times. Theyโ€™ll just see your photo, be wowed by it, and enjoy looking at it. They probably donโ€™t follow photography like you but, instead, follow you because youโ€™re the photographer they know. They are your audience. Theyโ€™re the ones doing without you while youโ€™re out on your photography ventures. And I hope you keep them in mind when making photos, and decide to shoot (or not shoot) a common place just so you can be different.

Part 4: Back to the Personal Story

Alright, Iโ€™ve left the rest of the personal story until the end so you can stop reading here. It has nothing to do with helping your photography or photo editing. Itโ€™s all about me ๐Ÿ™‚

So here I am. A guy thatโ€™s created a ton of courses on Photoshop, Lightroom, and photography. And all of these courses are not on my website – which of course is my primary source of income, and the college fund for the two growing-way-too-fast teens I have. (Yikes!)

Scenario #1: Itโ€™s a course Iโ€™ve created before

In the case of the Long Exposure course Iโ€™m working on now, I have to do something different.

That brings me back to the setting that started this whole blog post – the other night in New York, sitting there watching the water and getting ready to take the shot.

I realized some things about long exposure photos while sitting there that evening. Things I hadnโ€™t thought of (or clearly articulated) before.

I didnโ€™t even have my video camera with me, but I did an iPhone video of the whole thing and explained exactly what I was thinking in a way Iโ€™d never done before. Sure, itโ€™s not one of those cool cinematic high production videos with a video crew, and 3 cameras aimed at me. But itโ€™s professional, well thought out, it sounds good, and it’s real life. And, most importantly, itโ€™s good – solid content and advice, that even I had never thought or talked about in this way.

Iโ€™m going to go back and record more things like this for this course, and I think itโ€™s what will really set this apart from my previous projects.

Scenario #2: I havenโ€™t done it, but some one else has

Just like I suggested you still go make the photo that has been shot before, Iโ€™m still going to do courses that I think are the right fit for me and my audience.

For example, Iโ€™ve never done a black & white photo editing course. Others have though. But this is a topic that I think I have something different to offer.

In your case, I suggested that your family, friends, co-workers (your audience) hasnโ€™t seen that photo thatโ€™s been shot a million times and itโ€™s your job to bring it to them.

Well, in my case, I think I have a great audience and I think I can do a Black and White course that serves them in a different way than the ones before me have. So I plan on doing it – even though itโ€™s been done before.

Part 5: The Third Type of Photo

Youโ€™ll notice I didnโ€™t include the 3rd type of photo we can encounter. Thatโ€™s the one that got away or didnโ€™t go right. Maybe the weather wasnโ€™t good, maybe your bird photo is blurry and a number of other things that may not have gone right.

My goal as the content creator is exactly what my goal as the photographer would be.

Figure out what didnโ€™t go right. Get back there again, fix it, and get the shot.

So there you have itโ€ฆ ramblings from a guy traveling back home to Tampa on Delta Flight 97something, wishing he was home on his comfy couch, with his wife, binging on the newest season of House of Cards (even though she doesnโ€™t like that show) ๐Ÿ˜‰

Have a good one!

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