New Eyes on Old Places: The Power of Revisiting Photo Locations
We love exploring new places. There’s something exciting about discovering what we’ve never seen before. But there are places my family loves to visit time and again. We build memories of the people we were with, the things we did there, and the places themselves. We shouldn’t overlook the things we’ve already seen. Revisiting old photography sites can enhance your creativity, track your growth, and offer you some new opportunities.
See How You’ve Grown as a Photographer
Revisiting sites gives you an opportunity to compare some of your earliest shots with your most recent ones from the same location. You’ll be able to recognize improvement in your technique, differences in composition, and how your editing decisions affected the final image. You might even be inspired to go back and try yet another set.
Discover Details You Missed Before
Very often, revisiting a site in a different season or at a different time of day will reveal fresh details. When the light hits a spot from a different angle, it will create different shadows. Weather differences cause a whole mood change, as well. Seeing something on a sunny day, and then seeing it when the clouds block most of the sun, may turn a cheerful picnic spot into a gloomy, desolate island.
You’ll also become more observant with more time spent behind the lens. You’ll start seeing things most people miss or ignore. You might find something you want to see closer up, or you may want to zoom farther out than you were before.
Evolving Gear, Evolving Vision
The featured image is one I’ve taken with two different cameras. The first time I took the shot, it was winter, and it was a serendipitous discovery. I used a Canon PowerShot with the digital zoom, which was a good camera for the way I was using it at the time. However, over time, I have acquired better equipment. It’s easier to get a shot with a good zoom lens than with a digital zoom.
Now I not only have a better camera, but a couple of stronger lenses that captured a closer-in shot. The zoomed-out shots captured more detail, as well. But if we hadn’t been in a national park, I might have flown my drone in for an even closer look. (Drones are prohibited in all national parks, and I’m fine with that.) Somewhere, there’s probably a shot of this waterfall that the park service allowed to happen with a drone; it’s not my shot, but it’ll provide a different view of it. If we get back to the site in the summer, maybe I’ll actually walk up to it.
You will also develop a personal style as you progress on your photography journey. When you look back over how you saw a scene in the past, you may make different decisions this time around. You may decide to isolate a different section of the scene, or you may want to try a golden or blue hour shot instead of high noon. What would you say now that you didn’t have the voice to articulate when you were here before?
The Site Itself May Have Changed
Over time, things change, that’s obvious. As a photographer, you get the opportunity to chronicle those changes. Natural events or human activity can introduce small, subtle changes, or we might see a whole forest’s trees twisted and broken.
Changes in the site will also change who visits it. It may have become a tourist spot, or it may have stopped being a tourist spot. There may be more of some species and fewer of others. You can find food sources and habitats that can explain those changes.
History tells the facts, but it’s the journals and the photographs of the people who lived the history that tell us the real stories. You can record a “then and now” series of events that may help current and future generations understand the truths behind the facts.
Less Pressure, More Creativity
You’ve already been here. You know what you saw before. You got the obligatory photos of the people you were traveling with. Now you can get creative. You can show this place in a way that tells a different story about it.
Play with long exposure to smooth out the clouds, the waves, or the river. Try a zoom burst to isolate that chipmunk sitting on the log (if he’ll hold still long enough). Really get in close on some of the flowers and textures. It might be fun to try some Intentional Camera Movement.
Revisiting old sites is also a great opportunity to experiment with new gear, before you go somewhere and you absolutely need to know how it works. (Been there, done that.) You can also try out a different editing workflow or technique, maybe a different preset or filter.
Builds a Personal Photography Story
You can create an individual record of your relationship with a place – however tenuous or intimate. Keeping that record will add depth to your photography portfolio or the stories you tell on social media. It could also lead to themed projects, photo books that you keep or publish, or even exhibitions. You have a story to tell about the place, and it’s a story that only you can tell — even if you tell it only to yourself.
Practical Tips for Revisiting Sites
It can be helpful to bring some of your old shots when you go, for reference and inspiration. You can try to recreate the shots or take a “let’s not do that again” approach. You might try a different season or a different time of day. I’ve also gone out with only one lens to force myself to work within its confines. It can be a little uncomfortable to do that, but it also forces you to think a little broader and deeper about how you’re working.
Your Turn
What’s a place you would consider revisiting? I love the beach, and I have been there in all seasons, in all weather, and at many different times of the day. I need to curate some of those into a book to show the different characters of that stretch of sand. Tell me where you’re going to return to, down below the Related Posts section.
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