EXPLORE THE FAMILIAR

You don’t have to travel great distances to capture urban images filled with drama and intrigue

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Cityscapes and travel photography go hand in hand. For photographers, few things are more enjoyable or creatively motivating than heading off to a new and exotic city, to explore the many and varied image opportunities. One of the biggest reasons for this enthusiasm is the unfamiliarity of a new setting – when discovering a scene or subject we’ve never seen or photographed before we’re creatively challenged, and forced to apply often rarely used skills and expertise. With any technical medium we can end up utilising the same workflow processes time and again, so it’s always a welcome change when knowledge that we’ve stored away can be brought forward into use.

Unfortunately, the global pandemic has caused huge disruption to our lives of late, both personally and professionally, meaning international travel is not as easy as it once was. For many photographers this has posed a significant artistic challenge – the motivation to head out and shoot places close to home is often not as strong, and it can be surprisingly difficult to actually find and shoot creative images in cities that we know well.

One contributing factor to this is a lack of inspiration, which can lead to us failing to be alert to photo opportunities when the present themselves. In many cases the architecture, culture and people in a familiar city are as photogenic as any overseas; the key to unlocking amazing images close to home is to view your region as a tourist might, seeking out details you might otherwise walk past without consideration.

Over the following pages we’ll explore the fundamentals of cityscape photography, with a focus on capturing surprising and rewarding shots without the need to travel far from home.