How Far Do You Go ?

How far do you go from home for nature photography? Some of us live in beautiful surroundings and only have to step out the door to find gorgeous images waiting to be taken. Others have to travel further. Yet even those who live with beautiful nature right on their doorstep find themselves go further than within sight of their doors.

I know this is a very broad question as I know there are members here that trot the globe to get the magnificent shots they take. But I think it would be interesting to read some of your replies.

On the average I go nature photographing within a 50 KM radius of my home. On vacations I go further. Jasper National Park is 365 KM from home. Of course Jasper is a huge park so much travelling is done once we get there. We are within a day's drive to at least 8 National Parks and numerous Provincial Parks.

Thank you for your response.

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

Some of us live in beautiful surroundings and only have to step out the door to find gorgeous images waiting to be taken.

Let me fix that for you.

All of us live in beautiful surroundings and only have to step out the door to find gorgeous images waiting to be taken.

There. That's better. No need to thank me.

William,

Good evening. I would say that a person would have to travel as far as needed to photograph what it is that they want to. I know that for me I am limited to time and funds, so for now my distance is very limited.

But living on Long Island in New York State I am very lucky that we have a lot of beautiful wildlife & landscape.

Rich

While I agree with you on general principle, Mark, it also depends on the subjects you like to shoot. Sure someone would be able to make a gorgeous image outside my door, but I don't think it's me, as the area around my house (dense suburbs in Northern Virginia) doesn't lend itself to what I like to shoot (larger wildlife and landscapes).

Anyway, I usually stick within about 50 miles of home, except for vacations, which I would be taking, photography or not (i.e. they aren't photography driven trips). In the last couple of years I've gone to (and done significant amounts of photography in) South Africa, Brazil, Florida, New Jersey, Chicago, Cancun, The Bahamas, NYC, Pittsburgh, Southwest Virginia, and Harper's Ferry West Virginia. (Wow...making that list helps me realize how lucky I am in a lot of ways.) So I don't really consider distance when traveling, but it's not photography driving my traveling. I tend to photograph where I go, not the other way around.

I generally need to travel 500-550kms+ (1000kms+ roundtrip) for photography trips. Add to it the bitterly cold weather (-25C to -30C in winter), terrible road conditions and black ice, etc. make it quite challenging to do good photography in Quebec.

Lately due to time crunch I have been shooting extremely close to home (40kms), but end up trying to do lemonade shots. Sometimes I really envy you guys out west.

Interesting post, Will. I can't say I live on nature's doorstep. The closest natural seascapes without hand of man is about 100km drive after passing a swathe of ugly urban sprawl and factories. For better stuff, I would say at least 400 km. If I'm desperate (eg.restless), I take some pier shots 1 km my home, which is such a downer compared to the other places I've seen.

I don't go far at all. I moved to Ely, at the edge of the BWCAW and Superior National Forest, because I wanted my images to capture the feel of these places. The boreal forest is where my heart beats. Lucky, too. If I had to travel to Alaska for big game or Belize for tropical birds to make a living on, I'd be back working for newspapers in no time.

And with the price of gas, and because I can find wilderness five miles from my door, I'm going to be leaving my vehicle in the driveway more and more this summer and pedaling to where I'm going.

Well, not for the guided photo excursions, of course, and I've so far traveled as far away as Minneapolis and Fargo to photograph weddings. Gas is factored in on those gigs, not to mention it would take a DAMN LONG TIME to pedal a bicycle to Minneapolis.

We live over 30 miles from town on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Bald eagles ride the updrafts right outside our dining room window, and brown bears even wander through our yard once in a while. Yet I can really relate to how hard it often is to shoot close to home. Sad to say part of that is because the weather can stink for 7 or 8 months a year. There's only 100 miles of road on Kodiak, so even in summer driving is pretty restricted.

We make up for it though on our regular trips to the Southwest. The most recent spanned 10 weeks and covered 13,000 miles in a 20 mpg pickup. But because we mostly camp, cook our own food and dawdle for days at locations with the truck parked, our costs averaged out to $52/day for two people. I bet it costs more than that to stay at home, what with Alaska prices and all. $6.50/gallon milk anyone?

Gas prices are killing me. I live 10 miles from the closest town, 25 from a decent town, and need my Jeep for the crappy weather here 8 months of the year. I've been fortunate to do a lot of photography-related travel in the last 5 yrs, but must (very) significantly cut back now.
Good chance to explore more of Oregon, I guess.

Sandy

I don't go far for photography alone. I usually spend my time puttering around in our back yard looking for photo ops. If I travel for other reasons (vacation, biz travel, etc.) I'll usually bring a camera with me. As others have mentioned, I now think twice before getting in the car and going anywhere, especially for "non-critical" purposes.

The world is contained in your backyard, the ocean in a drop of water. You just need to use your eyes to see.

If taking photos near home is depressing ask yourself why? If you live in the worst part of Haiti volunteer to help out and record what happens. If you live in the suburbs and wish it was the mountains either move or learn to enjoy the conservation land that offers wildness right near home.

Henry David Thoreau rarely left Concord but he spoke to the world about nature. You can do it too.

I take photos in my town's conservation land. People like the convenience of seeing what's in their own backyard in my photos and sometimes they even go see for themselves!

I live in Central Missouri and do most of my shooting in the local area. I enjoy traveling to Arkansas for the CSNP weekend gatherings. About the only cost is for gas and a contribution for the food. Makes a good weekend of shooting in a different area with like minded folks.

I often take photos of birds through my open kitchen or study window and rarely go farther than 3 miles to photograph unless I am on a "photo safari" trip. In summer there are scads of wild flowers nearby, lovely winter scenes from my yard, all kinds of macro opportunities in my vege or flower garden, I spent 2 hours yesterday morning in a "dog house" photoblind in my yard taking photos of Western Tanagers, house finch, RWB, lazuli buntings, gold finches, cedar waxwings, magpies, sandhill cranes, and through the yard fence got a decent photo of a whitetail buck in early velvet and a 2 week old quarterhorse colt. All kinds of photo ops here within 50 feet of my house. Am I lucky or what!?! Above is a female Western Tanager.

With gas reaching or passing the $4.00 mark I have begun to think more carefully about hopping into my vehicle and hitting the road.

I have begun to be more selective about when I go to the places I most often photograph in.

For instance, one of the beaches I most often frequent are busier with other people on the weekends, by 8 am the beachcombers, shellseekers and sunbathers starts pouring in to join the bird photographers and fishermen. While they have as much right to the public beach as I do, I find it frustrating to slowly work my way up to the birds to photograph them without stressing them and then to have a shellseeker walk in front of me and scare away all the birds.

I cannot control them any more than I can control the tides in the sea, but I can fortunately visit that same area during the week when there are less people and reduce my frustrations.

If I am going to invest the $8.00 plus dollars in gas to take those images I am going to do it when I think I will have the most success and the least frustration.

Within a 45 minute drive I have hundreds of places I can go to and shoot birds in natural environments, some I have better luck at than others, so lately I have been clicking the worst places off in my mind and not even considering them. Not until the cost of gas goes down, if ever.

I do travel long distances for vacations but those are not primarily for photography, though I do take photos when I am there. I hope to be traveling some time next month to relax, enjoy the company of a fellow bird photographer and take images of birds I do not see in my local area.

When people see my framed images at shows/art fairs they inevitably comment about how much I get to travel. Funny, it sure doesn't feel like I travel much but when I do I try to take advantage of it.

I've been fortunate over the last few years to vacation in South Carolina, Maine and Washington state's San Juan Islands. This midwesterner has been spending time shooting coastal scenes that just aren't common place in Kansas!

But when I'm home and considering a regional photo trip the first thing that comes to mind is do I really need a certain image from the area I want to visit. I am always weighing the portfolio needs against the cost. Interesting that I'll spend the money to travel to the coasts but won't pony up gas money to shoot regionally.

Now I'm shooting more flora in my yard, it's available and easily accessible.

We have a very extensive river valley meandering through the midst of Edmonton and much of it is left in its natural state. I believe we have one of the largest natural areas within a large city anywhere in Canada. So why would I want to leave town to find some good nature shots? Because it's there. Edmonton is surrounded by watchable wildlife areas, nature sanctuaries, natural recreation areas, parks and lakes. Elk Island National Park is only an hour away. They all beckon to the nature photographer. And what landscape nature photographer can resist the lure of the magnificent Rocky Mountains? Some areas close to but outside the City have a certain atmosphere that I cannot find within. Places where a chorus of coyote howls breaks the silence of a silhouetted landscape. Or the sound of a loon reverberating across a peaceful lake. Trumpeter swans swooping by overhead, seemingly close enough to touch. Thunderstorms drifting across the country side or hovering on the horizon and reflecting in a marsh. So it is more than just finding images that draws me further away from my door. And the photo opportunities literally within sight of my door is truly uninspiring.

I am enjoying all the response so far.

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

It depends. I can drive five miles and shoot an oak tree forest in the San Gabriel Mountains. Or I can drive 650 miles to see redwoods...

Living in Denver, I am an hour or less away from beautiful mountains, stunning rock formations, and grand open grasslands. However, the truly magnificent vistas are further away. Within 150 miles are many stunning vistas. The San Juans are possibly the most beautiful mountains I have ever been to, and are 8 hours away. Moab (Canyonlands and Arches) is 6 hours away. Both can be visited in a long weekend.

However, traveling to new places is always fun as well. This year I have spent a week in Bermuda and a week in Death Valley. I plan on spending a week in Cape Cod this fall as well. Next spring will hopefully be the long planned Dominica trip, and Machu Picchu is on this list.

I've never traveled more than a couple of hours solely for the purpose of photography, but of course when I do travel, usually to visit family, I always take my gear. The south gulf coast of Florida where I live is getting more and more urbanized. It's hard to find a wide-angle scene that hasn't been marred by the works of man, but I see this as a challenge.

For birds, my location is pretty good. I live about half an hour from Ding Darling, half an hour from Estero Lagoon, about an hour from the Venice Rookery, and about an hour from Corkscrew Sanctuary.

I live in Colorado, so a nice place for landscapes to start with. It is not uncommon for me to drive 300-500 miles to the parks of southern Utah. But typically I drive 1-3 hours for my photo outings. 3 hours in the summer gets me to Aspen. 1 hour gets me to Westcliffe and the Sangres de Cristos. 2 hours gets me to Breckenridge and the 10-mile range or Buena Vista and the Collegiates.

Mel-

Last year I established a goal of taking two photo trips a year--that is, visits I couldn't accomplish as day trips. Bad timing on my part, as gas prices go through the roof. Still, I technically managed to pull it off...I got parts of four days of shooting in last spring in the Piedmont/Sandhills region of North/South Carolina during a trip ostensibly taken for other reasons and in the fall my wife and I visited my sister-in-law and her family in New Mexico and I (ahem) took advantage of the opportunity to get in as much picture-taking as possible.

Whether I make the grade this year is still up in the air; I did take a photo-only one-week trip to the Smokies in April, but that might be it for 2008, though I'm kind of hoping to get up to northern Wisconsin and/or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the fall.

In between, I've been trying to mine the areas in northern Illinois and central Indiana (where I split my time) as much as possible. Of late, I've done the overwhelming proportion of my shooting within a short ride of home.

I'm lucky enough to live across the road from Cherry Creek Reservoir in Aurora, Co. While the usage is pretty heavy in summer it's pretty low at sunrise and I can usually find a bird that interests me to photograph.

I've only been doing this for about a year and a half now but more and more my inclination is to travel according to the season and then according to how heavy the usage is in the area I want to photograph. That means I'll travel more in winter and fall than in summer and spring. Pawnee Buttes in Colorado is probably not to everyones taste but in winter when it's deserted, it's one of my favorite places. Travel, if I do it is probably dictated more by the weather and season than anything else.

I planted $300 worth of flowers in my yard this year so I do not have to go anywhere if I don't want to. So far, I have not had time to go anywhere anyway. I am happy though!

Nathan

I bring my camera with me everywhere. I have a job where I do quite a bit of summer field work, attend conferences, etc. I nearly always bring my gear with me on a work trip, and try to take a day off to get out and shoot. Otherwise, I pretty much stay close to home.

But like Nathan, I've been working on attracting birds at home as well. We built a house 2 1/2 years ago, and I've had a ball landscaping. It'll all take a while to mature, but it's certainly paying dividends with hummingbirds already with hummingbirds!!

$5.50 here for an American gallon. I'm buying a macro lens when I have the spare money! Road trips are a thing of the past.

I've recently taken my love of photography to macro so traveling is not an issue right now. However, I do try to travel somewhere once a year for a new adventure. I've already booked my trip for this fall to Martha's Vineyard. I was born and raised in New England and I miss the ocean so I must get my annual "fix" Macro has definitely given me a new direction to go with the camera and the expense is minimal!

Living in the heart of So Cal, I have to drive a minimum of 2 hours to get to some open spaces. I'm sure most macro or bird photographers could find some opportunities most anywhere. However, personally me being a LF landscape shooter it requires some breathing room, the more the better IMO.

I am one of the more furtunate that has spectacular nature and scenery all around me so I tend to stay within 50 miles of my home unless I'm traveling to Anchorage or Fairbanks for other reasons. Probably half of my photography happens between home and work or home and town (about 13 miles in both cases). Much of it takes place around Thompson Pass (my favorite place) which is only about 20 miles from my home. I would love to go see and photograph other places in the world but time and money has generally not been available at the same time. I hope to broaden my horizons when I retire though.

The majority of my images are found a short distance from home here in south Louisiana. A five minute drive to the launch and a twenty minute boat ride puts me in in the middle of the swamps. An hour and a half drive takes me to the coast. Ten minutes away there are great areas for insect macro. I love to travel out west for the majestic scenery and hope to do more in the future, but there's plenty to keep me busy here in the meantime. I'll try my hand underwater in the Gulf of Mexico in a couple of weeks if the weather cooperates. It's 30-50 miles out to get to really pretty areas, but the oil rigs are incredible attractors of sea life and it's always amazing to see what's down there.

From the SF Bay Area, the west slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains are at least 3 hours of usual driving away, the eastern SN slopes 5 hours, Tahoe 5 hours, the central coast seashore areas at least an hour, Southern California deserts at least 7 hours, and northern coast redwoods forests at least 7 hours. Though the distance is static, the cost goes up with rising gasoline prices. This last week a friend and I spent 8 days up in lonely coastal Del Norte County (just south of Oregon border) that required 410 miles of driving to reach. All told on the trip we totaled about 1200 miles or 48 gallons of gas at an average of $4.50/gallon or about $215 which we split gas costs on.

I moved to the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park and decided that I would try to forget about the rest of the world and make this park my #1 focus. The way I work is that I start down in the meadows in the spring and follow the flowers up to higher elevations as the summer progresses.This means that in the spring I may only need to drive just past the park entrance, but come mid-July it is quite normal to hike a total of 15-20 miles to get to the location I want to shoot and back again. Many summer weeks I'll hike about 50 miles. Once the snows hit up high, then I am back down in the meadows shooting aspen. When the snows come finally cover everything the I extend my range again, but usually limit myself to 10 mile hikes. As far as I am concerned, photography is an attempt to get paid for hiking. As for driving, I only need to get to the trail heads so I have an old 1983 Tornado which looks like it could fall apart any day.

Sometimes I travel 3 feet out my front door and sometimes I travel thousands of miles. It depends on the subject, but ultimately I look for nature photography opportunities non-stop. Where ever I am I try to find opportunities.

It varies but I try to do as much as I can without driving more that 10-20 miles. Gas prices you know.

Many of my images come from a National Park close to my parents home, where I lived until last year. It is within 10min reach by bike...
When I am on vaccation, no matter where that is, the photo's I take are also most likely rather close to the hotel, motel, whatever, but the location is choosen according to scenery within reach.
I only did one backpacking trip for the purpose of photography and that was some ~2500km north from my homecountry and I had to do some hiking (5km a day) to reach the campground, cabin, or the photo-location. I am physically fit, but I am not used to hike longer distances with the whole outdoor-package + camera-gear on my back and I have the biggest respect for you outdoor-guys!
I actually wonder how you do it. How can one be in the mood for seeking a composition when you are tired hungry and pissed off... Maybe because you have to suffer for your art!

Dietrich, there IS a greater sense of accomplishment for me when I've put out a lot of time or hard physical work to nail an image. Getting what I'm looking for is always rewarding, but if I've hiked several miles through the wilderness to get to a location or if I've been hounding a certain location over and over again until things are just right, well, the feeling of satisfaction as I drive/walk back home is mighty sweet indeed.

But I don't feel a big dose of disappointment if I can't make it happen. For me, being out there, sitting/laying in the woods in one place for a long time and becoming part of the landscape instead of an interloper, is one of the best feelings. In that setting, the pictures are just a bonus.

When I travel for photos these days and in the past as well, it always made sense to "multi-task" or hit more than one location in a vicinity in addition to spending more time at each for the right shots, along the lines that Dietrich and Steve are discussing. The opportunity for many repeat visits is a huge bonus for shooting close to home- As is the opportunity for real multi-tasking.

Two days ago I finished an industrial shoot and picked up my wife at the end of her studio day at 5, then together we grocery shopped and stopped by the hardware store and stopped at the fairgrounds to shovel a load of horse manure for the garden. On the hour-long drive home we watched for bears, and after unloading the horse manure we drove a mile to the beach for sunset shooting and a snack dinner. I have to say that after the very long day for each of us, the sunset dinner on the beach was pure heaven. If it wasn't for the cameras, there's no doubt we would have flopped our ragged bodies in front of the TV for some getting stupid time.

Thanks for all the response. All was very interesting. Cost of gas is an issue for many of us. Those of you who live on the doorstep of great photos, good for you

And, figuratively speaking, we all are willing to "go the extra mile" to get that great shot we are striving for.

Overall, I believe the cost of travel is a part of nature photography that we all have to cope with in some way.

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada