Making the most of the mundane

I'm sure many photographers don't bother getting their kit out unless they are in a particularly beautiful area, many are guided by the instinct to copy beautiful images they see in magazines or from photo-sharing sites.

In fact, on such sites I've grown tired of seeing the same images done over and over again, one "pioneer" has seen a shot and taken a beauty of a shot, then droves drive to that spot, find the holes where the pioneer's tripod legs were and wait for the same light.

There's nothing wrong with this, it just means that you're being unoriginal and not really carving yourself a niche.

Leeds Olympic Pool

I've started to revist areas that I've walked past previously, taking a second look at what merits these locations have. This has been in Leeds, I've done the town hall and some of the more famous builsings to death now, so I've wandered off the beaten track in search of unseen gems.


All buildings, not matter how hideous, were designed by someone and will have particular merit - it's just a case of finding the right angle, the right light and right post-processing to get a unique image.

Office Block on Wellington Street

I'll repeat that...

Unique Image

Not something you find much of these days, and that's the challenge.

Or maybe it's the easiest thing you could do with a camera, take a shot of something mundane, something people walk past every day without a blink of an eye, and create something from nothing.

The easiest thing in photography is to copy a well trodden landscape, one of the hardest is to capture the essence of a personality in a shot, that takes a lot of practice and people skills.

Unknown Building in Leeds that I used to walk past each day



All I'm suggesting is to open your eyes to your surroundings, take shots of things unusual things, try HDR and distorting the image, or maybe a zoom burst, a long exposure to blur cars - there's a huge pile of new techniques to learn about - all of which can transform the mundane into the magnificent.