Get Outside! (After You Read This.)

Chasing Waterfalls

You know what one of the keys to landscape photography success is?  Going outside.  Because that’s where the landscapes live.

There are so many variables outside though!  (And bugs.  And bears.)

I am 100% an advocate of working smarter, not harder and the Interwebs is a great source of information.  Every outing requires, minimally, some research about the weather, sunrise/set times, possible tide schedules (location dependent…duh) and if it’s a night shoot, the moon phase.  Those things are the easy part though.

For me, the hard part is always figuring out where to go.  Despite my art brain, I try very hard to be organized about my image releases, making sure I mix up subject matter and environmental conditions.  Often, my location decisions are loosely based around 4 factors: how much adventure I am looking for on any particular day, how much time and money it will cost me to explore, what I feel like shooting and what I haven’t shot in a while.  I used to spend hours scouring 500px, Instagram, etc for new locations…then more time on the Googles trying to get good information about the location’s accessibility.

Then I discovered The Outbound.  It’s like <insert favorite joyful, gift-opening holiday here>.  It had everything I needed in one spot.  I was so impressed, in fact, that I reached out to them and became an Outbound Explorer myself.  (Which makes this post extremely biased.  Give the site a shot anyway though.  If you like adventure, you’ll like The Outbound.) 🙂

If you’re already an Outbound regular, find me!  If you want to talk about local spots to explore, also find me.  If you want to give me a winning lotto ticket, definitely please find me!