Photograph your local area? Nah, it's BORING.

[@jonakeys]

You found a great topic to talk about. Photography isn't always about the pictures and techniques, but the thought and creativity you have to put in to get a great result. While you were explaining a phrase of a latin writer Virgil came to my mind; "You have to change your mind(set), not your horizon." Just as you say: open yourself up and dare to see around the neighbourhood, so much to see that we take for granted sometimes.

[@AndyBanner]

That's the problem - it's mindset. It's always mindset. I guarantee that if someone who said their area was boring had me walk it with them, I would open their eyes as to how wrong they were.

[@Wolf-6567]

Thank you, really good advice. I always enjoy your content and how you break down the process of seeing the image. 617 club looks really cool, when I rotate back to the UK I'll be joining based on your recommendations. Have a wonderful day Andrew.

[@scotskinner4350]

William Eggelston complained when he moved his family to suburban Memphis, Tennessee that there wasn't anything to photograph, it was boring. His wife told him to photograph the boring. He did and ended up with a exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

[@AndyBanner]

This is very much the point of the video. It is only boring in your head. Stop seeing it as boring and look at it as an opportunity to find, to see that it is not and that you are wrong.

[@lindahudspeth8006]

Thanks Andrew. I’ve walked from Sea Palling to Eccles but never realised you could wander through the estate except on the designated public footpaths. It’s opened up a whole world of possibilities for me.

[@AndyBanner]

You can drive it too if you don't mind dirt tracks.

[@the_atomshop]

I have leaned a lot from you. Your videos are honest which is hard to find today on the tube. Many thanks

[@AndyBanner]

Thank you very much

[@morrisgentry8624]

“It’s not always about taking pictures but about seeing pictures …” Great perspective, Andrew. I’m constantly looking for pictures even when my cameras are at home. Enjoyed your video very much.

[@frazerchapman7044]

Great video. We see a lot of Iceland and Lisbon, etc. The mundane and recording your locale is a worthwhile exercise. It is a snapshot of a time that as soon as the shutter trips is gone. Deadpan photography is interesting and an academic point for discussion. Keep up the good work.

[@TDtog2112]

Great video and message Andrew. I have lived in Hastings on the south coast for 25 years now and I have been out with my camera at least once a week in all that time so you can imagine there is not much I haven't taken a picture of but I still go out to the same places and always come back with a bucket load that I haven't shot before. Stop looking at the wider landscape images of where you live and focus in on the details and you will find hundreds of images. 😃

[@cartilagehead]

your local area isn’t boring to me, as somebody ~5,000 miles away it looks quite fresh and interesting

[@AndyBanner]

I think you have missed the point I am making. Familiar surroundings are often boring because they are familiar. You take then for granted without ever looking properly. Like the thumbnail says, it's only boring in your mind....

[@cenfy57]

@@AndyBanner Point understood but don't think the poster was trying to undercut your message but highlighting that a local content video inadvertently becomes a sort of travel video for your viewers on the other side of the world who will also focus on the peculiarities of your area even though that wasn't your intent. Just a digression.

[@WorksIRL]

I completely concur and your dated home decor analogy is brilliant! That’s a wonderful way to express the individuality each photographer brings to enlivening an otherwise hoe hum subject or scene. Thank you for sharing your walk as it exemplifies what you’re saying by showing me a place familiar to you but exciting and new to me just as most photographs provide me as well. 🙏👏

[@AndyBanner]

Very kind of you. Thank you.

[@luzr6613]

My overwhelmingly primary reason to not travel is because I understand the destructiveness - environmental and otherwise - that mass travel can cause. I'm a natural-world oriented photographer, and given the stresses it is already under, I can't feel good about getting my jollies by adding to them. I want to see photos of Iceland and Zambia and Mongolia, but I see no reason that that interest can't be satisfied by those who live in those places already. From the perspective of a photographer, I also appreciate the way that my local environment challenges me to produce work of quality... I don't need to pursue low-hanging fruit on the well-worn circuit - I don't need to add to the never-ending heap of photos of yawning lions at watering holes taken by the never-ending procession of 600mm f/4 wielding middle-aged Westerners on 'Safari'. TH and his ilk play a significant role in promoting a part of the industry that results in harmful consequences - for all the 'great experiences' individuals may have. Time we all grew up. Cheers from NZ.

[@Cocc0nuttt0]

I agree with the sentiment, but NZ... come on mate :) do you even NEED to travel?

[@MiscellanyTop]

@@Cocc0nuttt0 Yup, NZ is one of the most photogenic and interesting places on Earth. Look how far-away it is from most people, yet NZ has a great tourism industry - because it is a magnet to all. Having said that, if people do jet (or cruise) around less that would greatly help the planet.

[@AndyBanner]

I would love to travel more and my attitude to travel isn't negative, but as I explained in the vid, I am rather tied by situation. Like most people, I find the familiarity of my local area to be boring, despite it being anything but, however finding constant inspiration with the familiar is difficult. I suspect it is more difficult for me because I produce weekly videos where I find something to talk about. This purpose helps me achieve that. However, I will never accept anybody saying their local area is boring and hold no images: they have simply not learned to see or have stopped looking.

[@wulfvonkolle]

In the first video I saw of you, you were wearing your funny hat and I thought "what a weird guy" 😅 But as I watched more of your content, I quickly realized that your channel is a little gem in the field of photography and you are also a pretty likeable guy. Your approach to "everyday photography" and your relaxed presentation style are always nice to watch and quite inspiring. A subscription is a must. Thank you and I look forward to more videos. All the best from Germany!

[@AndyBanner]

Funny hat? I am afraid you'll have to narrow it down a bit more than that. All of my hats are "funny"... most of my wardrobe actually.

[@wulfvonkolle]

@@AndyBanner That was the olive green outdoor hat where the brim folds up so decoratively in the wind - that creates a very distinguished look 😉 Beside that your wardrobe is as individually as your videos - i like both a lot 👍

[@duringthemeanwhilst]

your own backyard is someone else's holiday destination. anywhere can be exotic. due to my failing health, 100% of my photography is within a 20 mile radius of my house, most of it much, much closer. the "danger" if you like, of watching YT togs travelling to far flung lands and getting great pictures is getting conditioned to thinking you absolutely have to do the same.

[@AndyBanner]

That and the risk of becoming less relevant yourself perhaps. I am absolutely aware that I would love to go further than 10 miles down the road and if my circumstances were different, I would love to head to somewhere (anywhere) that wasn't on my doorstep. I was hoping to go to the Peak District to catch the last of autumn at Padley Gorge this week but I haven't gotten off my backside and done anything about it.

[@duringthemeanwhilst]

@@AndyBanner I'm not worried whether what I do has any relevance or not. If I take a great picture then so be it. If it's rubbish (most are) again so be it. Would I like to travel? Absolutely, and not just for photography purposes. One thing being this unwell has prevented is travel - either foreign (no chance of insurance cover and way too risky for me now) or domestic (I'm just too bloody tired all the time). But you and I are both lucky living where we do, both of us living in holiday destinations. I'm often reminded of how lucky I am to live where I do, and agree that I am blessed.

[@robinfereday6562]

The beginning reminded me of the Fast Show 😂 Brilliant

[@Arripa-777]

Thank you Andrew ! 🌻

[@AndyBanner]

You are so welcome

[@thehappyclam3942]

I live on the Oregon coast where it's actually boring, you are living in an exotic location.

[@AndyBanner]

You are fundamentally wrong. If I can pick up cardboard boxes and find images within them as I did a few videos ago, you can get out in your area which is subtaintially larger than the box a tripod arrived in and find compelling images.

[@pauldarville3843]

Very informative, thanks a lot Andrew!

[@AndyBanner]

My pleasure!

[@flightographist]

So true. I'm working on an object in the center of town, many pass it each day without knowing what it really is, other than to say " hey, that's a big X", and what it's significance to the town and the entire country is. It's big, difficult to photograph and just as difficult to contextualize. Suddenly, two days ago a light bulb turned on, while I was replacing bulbs in a string of Christmas lights. The irony was interesting to say the least as the object is associated with none other than Thomas Edison.

[@AndyBanner]

Lol. The irony there being that Edison pretty-much stole the lightbulb idea too.

[@flightographist]

@@AndyBanner Some may be familiar with that 'swan song' but most are and were not, one could say they were 'bamboozled' by American hype.

[@vermis8344]

Similar sort of feeling about wildlife photography: not really having the wherewithal to go on a big exciting Simon D'entremont style safari adventure, I've started to appreciate the local fauna a bit more - a lot of which I didn't even know was local until I started _looking._ (It's starting to feel like there's a group of deer around every bend in the road, now) Also, you reminded me of a little project I had going, photographing the leading lines of different 'ways' - roads, streets, paths, bridges, doorways etc. - around the town. I should get back to that...

[@AndyBanner]

Exactly. I think your project idea is a fine one too. I have a couple of similar ideas that I really should get started on.

[@johnchipperfield3367]

There's always something to photograph.

[@AndyBanner]

Indeed there is

[@glenhumphrey8822]

The word is mundaneness.

[@CharlesDews]

I hate traveling. Fortunately, I live in Mexico City, one of the most interesting cities on the planet.

[@AndyBanner]

Even the most "boring" places are brimming with great images if you open your mind living in a great place obviously helps, but the limiting factor it always attitude. There will be people who think Mexico City isn't interesting, I am sure

[@barnyg6804]

Like all things even the mundane has beauty within, you just have to look to see.

[@AndyBanner]

Exactly.

[@ianwestwood2991]

I would expect houses in outer Mongolia to be far more photogenic and interesting than you give them credit for!!! 🤣🤣

[@AndyBanner]

Lol. Probably.

[@markcamm5330]

There is a problem with walking your neighbourhood and taking photos of houses and buildings, it's people wanting to know what the hell you're doing photographing their home. It's a photo to you, but an invasion of privacy to them. A hard one to get around.

[@AndyBanner]

If you put up barriers, that's just going to stop you. If you talk to people, show them your work and such, only the worst kind of person will have an issue with what you're doing. Fewer people will have an issue of you walking around a town centre or a light industrial estate or your local park, the local high street. Use your imagination for the location rather than just saying, "wow, the Faroe Islands look great, let's go".

[@markcamm5330]

@@AndyBanner Touche Andy, I'm guilty as charged. Yep, I knew immediately you were right. Spurred on by your reply I've just got back from the sort of shoot you described, carrying just my camera and a 24-50mm lens. Just to make it more interesting I shot only in black and white. I talked to people, smiled a lot and was approachable. For my troubles I got some terrific photos. And this was in an area I thought I'd done to death. Certainly pays, as you suggested, to challenge your assumptions. Thanks.

[@AndyBanner]

Hey, that's brilliant, Mark. Thanks for reporting back!

[@TobiasKey]

To be honest I find most KZbin landscape photography quite vapid. On the whole it tends to rehash bucket list locations without offering something new. Now, I think there a few reasons for this, not least the fact that I am not sure it is possible to create an exceptional photograph and a high quality youtube video at the same time. On top of this, these videos are to ultimately created to sell workshops. They have to sell the model of travelling to a location to shoot landscapes, because they are selling a lifestyle to aspiring landscape photographers. I much prefer the work of photographers like Jem Southam that have a strong connection between artist and landscape.

[@AndyBanner]

I am not sure I agree with that. Sure, some tubers have workshops to fill, but they aren't all never-ending plugs for their other work. That said, people have to earn money. Every video I produce costs hundreds terms of time, fuel and equipment. I can assure you I run this channel at a significant financial loss. But what i lose in monetary terms, I gain in experience, a sense of purpose and a need to get up in the morning. I think you're being rather too cynical over this, yes, having your own audience to advertise your other services and products to is a great thing, but if every video costs £3/400 to produce (yes, it adds up very fast) , a small plug here and there isn't unreasonable. Bucket locations too are important - very few people will be interested in a photovisit to the gasworks in Walthamstow (or insert any drab inner-city area of your choice) but a ship sailing to Svalbard? Of course people are interested. Audiences like to see places they aspire to go rather than the *&^%hole 1/2 mile away.

[@colintraveller]

If they deem there local area as boring to take pics . They are a great example of people who have sheer poor observational skills . Even though i've had a licence for years . I can't afford a car .. if i could afford ..I'd invest in a camper van instead . My main form of transport is my bike .. and train ...ferry if need be depends where am heading too . As for where i stay i think i've taken hundreds but then again i don't pidgeon gole myself to one sole genre ... Improvise adapt overcome

[@AndyBanner]

I disagree, Colin. It's not to do with observational skills - it's a mindset thing. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy - I think it's boring, therefore it's boring. There are so many things that we see everyday that we take for granted and wouldn't necessarily see as being photogenic because we aren't looking and we end up ignoring the opportunities that exist around us. There's absolutely nothing wrong with travel if you have the ability and lord-knows I would love to (I never wanted to in my younger years), but my point is very much that travelling just to get great photos is pointless if you don't have the skills to get great photos and unnecessary because there are great photos within a few feet of where we sit right now.

[@williambeck8330]

I always find photos in boring places over and over again

[@AntoineSteen-f5l]

Hi, Andy Stunning video, my friend. I am sending you an Email. Antoine

[@AndyBanner]

Thanks, Antoine

[@47-degrees]

Hi, good content to the video but man, it’s uncomfortable to hear you struggling for breath throughout the video: I’m not being nasty, it’s constructive feedback. Either walk slower or stop somewhere to film, make it easier to the listener. Keep it up otherwise!

[@AndyBanner]

Probably need to reposition the mic. I am not struggling for breath - I am at peak physical phitness, don't-cha-know ?

[@AntoineSteen-f5l]

test

[@AndyBanner]

All working, Antoine

[@outtathyme5679]

Probably be helpful if you took some photos to show us what you’re talking about

[@AndyBanner]

How so? The video is about fostering a change of perception in the viewer of a mundane, possibly boring place. Photos are not always necessary, surely.