Photographing the journey, not just the destination

I had just missed sunrise from Spraque Lake in RMNP by 10 minutes because I took too long getting out of bed. After the glow faded from the peaks, the light was still soft and warm, so I altered my plans and decided to photograph the morning light at Mills Lake and surrounding peaks. I had never hiked this trail before and as I made my way up to the lake, the scenery was so wonderful that I began to happily snap away. When the hike was all said and done, I had taken as many pics along the way as I had at the lake. I'll pick up my film today, so it'll be interesting to see the results of both. I discovered that I enjoyed photographing the journey as much as the destination. Do you find yourself photographing the journey as well as the destination? It seems that most photo trip reports typically include photographs of the destination and rarely sights along the way. Its entirely possible that the pics of the journey won't be as marketable as the destination pics, but they can still tell a interesting story.

I definitely photograph all along the trail of wherever I'm going. I'm sure that I tend to post more destination images than journey images (especially here), but I usually put up a more comprehensive gallery of the whole trip on my site for family and friends.

It's not unusual to bring home more images from along the trail than from the destination, usually snapshots taken with a digital p&s. I tend to be more contemplative with whatever shots I've previsualized - and those are typically higher quality images because I put more effort into them - but taking pics along the way is part of what makes any trip an enjoyable experience.

I don't usually take pics along the way because it's pitch black and I'm wearing a headlamp.

Number one reason why I carry my camera on my shoulder when on the trail, the journey is every bit as important as the destination for me. Thats where I find a lot of my intimate compositions, little pcs of the grand scale that I like to capture just as I saw them that particular day.........................J

Yes,

It gets a bit challenging while carrying my two year old. But I still manage to stop and take it all in. On our most recent vacation in Crested Butte, we took a hike to Judd Falls. I ended up taking 80% of my photos along the way. I am glad I did because once we got there, there was no obvious way down to the base of the falls. So after carrying my tripod the entire hike I only actually used it for a few shots. I was hoping to shoot from up close to it and try some long exposures.

I am still wondering if there is a sane way down that cliff to the base of the falls

Derek

Sometimes I don't even have a destination. I'll just wander around mostly at random trying to find things to photograph that I might not be able to research and know about beforehand. I don't tend to be as productive on these trips, but when I do get good shots I find them to be more rewarding. Of course, I still do lots of shoots with a destination in mind, but am always willing to change the plans based on the photo opportunities I find along the way. The exception is sunrise shots, when I almost always have a spot in mind and rarely deviate from it, as it's too dark before sunrise to photograph anything and I want to know in advance that I'll be somewhere that actually gets light when the sun comes up.

I used to be a very destination focused photographer. I started looking for the smaller stuff a few years ago & found that frequently my best images from a trip were those I made along the way. Once I started shooting adventure stuff the journey became as important, if not moreso, than the destination. Great topic, Doug!