Creativity or location

I was listening yesterday to an older episode of The Grid, from few weeks ago. Scott Kelby and RC Conception were talking about some harsh realities of photography. While most of them were quite reasonable, there was one I just do not agree with. It was about landscape photography. They essentially stated that to have a good landscape portfolio, you have to go and shoot in “interesting places”, you have to “go West”.

The truth it, everybody can go to Arches or Yosemite, and come back with amazing images. You don’t need a good camera for that, you don’t need to wait till the “golden hour”. Whatever the weather is, wherever you turn the camera, there is an amazing photograph to be taken. Maybe even the photo you take have not been taken million times before. But really, such photographed places, even great light and difficult to rich vintage point doesn’t guarantees uniqueness.

I strive to achieve what some photographers manage. To create amazing images in the place you live. Just look at the work of Dan Jurak or Valerie Jardin (just ignore the shots of Paris in this context). They live in what you woud consider some of the most boring places on Earth. And they take advantage of what is available to them. The knowledge of the place, and being there all year long, to choose the weather to shoot. That is creativity for me.