Tips For Photographing Difficult Locations

While many of my pictures look idyllic, I don't actually live in a magical wonderland of brilliant backdrops! I mean, I do live in a pretty magical place, but sometimes we're taking pictures next to parking lots or choosing an angle that hides the hideous office building I'm posing next too. The trick isn't always having a beautiful location, but rather having a creative approach to that location and seeing the diamond in the rough. There is no more apt example of this than these pictures I took while visiting my family in the States and attending a lavender festival with them. When they invited me to the festival I pictured rows upon rows of lush lavender stretching on to the horizon (basically I had visions of Provence) and thought if we got there early enough it would also be quiet enough to snap a few pictures without a crowd. Well, we got there just after it opened to find a few rows of lavender (some obviously struggling to survive the rather mixed weather of this season), lined with gravel, manned by several volunteers in bright orange tee shirts, and an already sizable crowd. Still, I hunted around and set up a shot and with my mother's help got to shooting. At a certain angle the lavender looked like what I had envisioned and with enough patience we got a few pictures without people walking through the background or foreground of the shots. While it took patience and was a tricky shoot, I was also fighting back laughter the whole time! In addition to people walking in front of the camera, there was also some running commentary on my posing from some nearby strangers, "oh now she's twirling! Wait look, now she's kneeling--maybe we should try that." Sometimes those diamond in the rough locations are a challenge, but that doesn't mean it's not a fun experience or even just a hilarious one! I've included some of the more "real" shots from this day to further illustrate how it went. Even my outfit suiting the location was a bit of a fluke since I hadn't packed with the thought of this (or any other shoots in mind) and just grabbed a lightweight dress for the hot weather and my favorite straw tote. I hope if you're struggling to find that dream location this post will be an encouragement to you; while some locations are dreamy, sometimes it's about working with what you have and getting creative. Oh, and while the lavender lemonade got a mixed review from my family, we all loved the lavender ice cream!
Getting Your Best Photos In Difficult Settings:
1. Choose your angle. Many beautiful spots can be directly beside eyesores, so it's about choosing your angle carefully. Think about shooting through something in the foreground or even just cropping out an eyesore.
2. Be patient. Something might not work right away for a number of reasons (people in the background or poor light), so be patient and wait for the picture to happen. If you have time, leave it and come back when you think it might be quieter or the light would be better, or just hold your pose and take the shot as soon as you get a chance!
3. Look for diamonds in the rough. Difficult locations are a pain--I mean who doesn't want to twirl around an empty castle for pictures?! But almost everywhere you shoot is going to have drawbacks, so don't obsess about finding the perfect location and instead try to find beauty in unexpected places.
4. Get in tighter. A lot of shots that won't work in these locations are wider shots that show the whole scene, so instead focus on closer shots--portraits or even details. Stopping to take details also add depth to a shoot overall and set the mood, so definitely get in there and chase that bee!
5. Keep your sense of humor. This won't necessarily equate to better pictures, but life is so much better when you can respond to it with a laugh!