Revisiting a landscape location

Text and photos by Heather Cline 

May Lake, Yosemite High Country

It is natural for nature photographers to have a bucket list of photo destinations they would like to visit. Because of this, it can be challenging to revisit the same location more than once, especially when you factor in budget, work constraints, and family life. However, there are multiple benefits to revisiting the same location over and over again. In this article, I will cover a few of those benefits. 

Conditions

One of the challenges of nature photography is that you are at the mercy of mother nature. All the planning in the world will guarantee you perfect conditions, but by visiting the same location over and over again, you are bound to hit the right combination to achieve the photo you were envisioning. 

This applies to both a repeat trip to a previously visited destination as well as revisiting the same spot you previously photographed during the same trip. Sometimes I think the latter is more difficult to do because if this is your first trip to the destination, you probably have a list of images you are hoping to capture and by visiting the same one for two evenings in a row, for example, you have effectively reduced your ability to capture all those images you had hoped for. Sacrificing variety for a smaller number of potentially better images can be difficult to justify. But - what if conditions weren't great on the first night but they are ideal the next? You have already had a chance to get familiar with the location, giving you an even better chance of getting a stellar image the next evening. I always say it is better to come home with 1 outstanding image than 50 average ones. 

Milky Way and tree, Tioga Pass, Yosemite

Seasons 

Some locations offer a completely different look and feel during different times of the year - and throughout the changing seasons. This factor alone can make you feel like you are visiting the location for the first time and can yield vastly different images.

Valley View captured during different times of the year and day, Yosemite Valley

Familiarity 

Visiting a location for the first time can produce logistical challenges in terms of road conditions, traffic, parking, terrain, among others. By visiting a location more than once, you become more familiar and can more easily plan and navigate potential obstacles. This reduces stress and frees you up to focus on the fun part. 

Another benefit to becoming more familiar with a location is the ability to explore new and different compositions that you may not have considered on previous visits. This is even more important when visiting iconic landscapes like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon - where certain subjects are photographed exactly the same way by literally millions of people. Once you have captured that iconic image, you can move on to less obvious subjects and compositions - which could result in an even more interesting image. 

Ice crystal detail, Yosemite Valley Winter

Continuous Improvement  

Growing as a photographer requires learning from your personal failures and this is achieved by identifying the issue, outlining some things that could have prevented the issue from occurring, then retesting to determine if the change(s) yielded better results. 

Applying those changes at the same location ensures you have either addressed the issue, or need to try something new. When you move on to a new location, it is easy to miss if you are making the same mistake, which means you are less likely to address it and obtain growth in your craft. 

Dogwood and moss, Yosemite Valley

I hope this article has helped illustrate why revisiting locations can improve your photographs, and inspired you to go back and check out some places you have been to in the past.