There are many locations that have been photographed a lot and if you research any popular location in any country, you will find lots of photographs of those places. Most of the time with great conditions!

But if they have been photographed already, why bother going there yourself?

Well there are a few good reasons to do it, as well as a few drawbacks.

Photographing popular locations is fun, it is exciting and in knowing that your idols have been to that location can be a great boost in your photograph confidence and motivation!

1. You Know There is a Photograph to be Had

If you are new to photography, you might not know what to look for when taking a photograph. If you already know that a more experienced photographer has been to the location you are going to and has got a great photo there … it will give you the confidence to go there.

There’s nothing worse, as a beginner, in going to a place and coming away with nothing.

One thing I do advise is that once you have the photo or a similar photo to what you saw, start to look for other photo opportunities and try to get some for yourself.

The Roaches, The Peak District — Even though I took this after the golden hour, I still like it!

2. You Can Work On Your Composition Skills

When you get to the location, you can go through the process that other photographers went through … in doing this, it will teach you a little about why the composition is good and why people didn’t photograph the location from other positions.

I was running a workshop the other day in North Wales and due to the weather conditions, we had to go to a completely new location … between us, we found a new composition that I have never seen before, it may have been taken before, but i had never seen it … so even though some of these locations are well photographed, you still can find new photos that are unique to you.

I have never seen this composition before …

In the video, linked earlier, below are some of the compositional ideas I had at the location … in the second shot, you can really see the path in the foreground. This doesn’t look great so I wanted to hide it behind the heather and grass further up near the wall. From this, I can see why others have taken the photo from the same spot.

3. You Can Meet Other Like Minded Photographers

In going to popular locations, especially if you go at sunrise, you will probably find other photographers there, who are morning people … if you go at sunset, you’ll find photographers that prefer to shoot at sunset after a lie-in! 😆

But in going to these locations, it is great to be able to have a chat with people who have the same interests … we as photographers tend to be quite solitary people and doing shoots at ungodly hours can be quite lonesome, so it is great to have a conversation in person instead of on line!

Bex photographing Bromo — Mt Bromo, Indonesia

4. If You Take Photographs for Yourself, Who Cares if Someone Else has the Same Photo?

If you do photography as your main job, it is important to get photos that are unique to you. You will have to make time to find new places to shoot to make your work stand out from the rest.

However, if you are a hobbyist, you might be limited for time, you might also have other commitments that put your photography on hold … if this is the case, it is great that there are locations that have already been found for you. All you have to do is turn up when you have the time, and the compositions will be there for the taking … and like I said in point 2, you can then work on some unique photos for yourself if you do have the time once you get your version of the photo you saw.

Standing on a rocky outcrop mike Smith taking a photo — Trying to look Stoic … lol

5. It is Like Collecting a Trophy

If you go to a location and you end up getting it in great light, this is almost like getting a trophy for all of your hard work.

In the video I likened it to learning to play your favorite song or listening to your favourite song; there is that sense of familiarity of knowing that it is good because so many others have it to … maybe a pilgrimage to a fan favourite …

The Quiraing, Skye, Scotland — The Quiraing, Scotland

6. You can Work on a Specific Part of Your Photography

This is a bonus one that I didn’t include in the video.

Let’s say you want to work on focus stacking, but you’re not sure what location would work for that, all you do is find a photograph that has a foreground close to the camera as well as a big grand background.

Then you go to that location and practice focus stacking. You know that you don’t have to spend hours hunting around for a composition and you can focus your time and energy on focus stacking and nothing else …

This is a great way to really hone in on one aspect of your photography skill set.

This can work for anything like exposure blending where you might look for a shot with a big dynamic range, to the focus stacking example I just mentioned, to long exposures and getting movement in your frame.

If you can forget everything else and just focus on that one thing, you will learn it a lot quicker than if you wpent most of your time and energy on finding a composition to practice that one thing.

The Downsides to Photographing Popular Locations

There are also downsides to going to these places to take photographs.

Photography tends to attract introverted and solitary people. If you like going to places, having them to yourself, then these popular locations might not be the best option. This is when it is good to research a location and see how popular it is. The less “professional” looking photos there are of it, the less likely it will be busy when you go there …

Tip: If you do like having a place to yourself, try sunrises … it is so much quieter in the morning compared to sunsets.

If it is a popular location, as well as having other photographers there, you will also have part of the selfie brigade there as well, so you could end up setting up a shot … and then have someone photobomb your frame, taking a selfie … check this shot out … have you spotted the selfie taker!? 😆

This isn’t actually too much of a problem in this case, but in some locations I have been to, there has been a stream of people flowing through without any regard for me getting the shot … but in saying that, they have as much right to be at that location as you do. If this does happen, I try to be patient, or come back at a different time if possible … and if not, there’s always photoshop!!

When it comes to landscape photography, there are millions of us all trying to get unique photos of interesting places. Inevitably there will be a lot of overlap in who took what photograph first, and in today’s day and age, chances are someone has already done it … although I am always still looking for those original shots!

At the end of the day, if you are enjoying taking photographs and spending time behind your camera, who cares if it has been done before or not … all I say is enjoy what you do, go out to these locations and just have fun … after all life can be tough, so embrace those times where everything comes together and you get a great photograph for yourself!

If you liked this article and video and want to read more, try this one next.

Thanks

Mike

Now if you are new to photography and want to learn more, click on this playlist over on my YouTube channel. Or if you are already learning lots, click here to see some of my other articles on landscape photography.

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