Photography - Taking A Walk Without Your Camera

By Martin Jones
Another useful lesson I learned along the way regarding photography was to look around without my camera.

When going out with a camera or specifically to take pictures you are generally viewing things a certain way. Take a walk sometimes without your camera – don’t worry about missing that perfect shot – there are millions of them. Doing this, walking and looking, will help you create that shot, not find it.

If you do scenic shots, then spend an hour or two walking around the park or village or canyon that you like to shoot. Do this without your camera – just look! Do this enough and you will find that when you take your camera with you things will look different and you will see more options. Walk both ways down a street or country path. Walk around the pond or lake. See things from different perspectives.

If you like taking people pictures, take a walk through a mall or downtown. If you are visiting another country or part of yours, take the time to just watch the people without your camera. Go and sit in a café and watch – just look. What different shapes and sizes do you see? How do they walk? How do they stand?

Even in the studio one can apply this. You are going to shoot the beautiful model: Set your camera aside and just have her move and pose – without the camera. If you aren’t comfortable with this, go to some fashion shows and just watch – don’t take your camera.

If you are doing product shots, something as simple as toasters – when you are in someone’s house have a look at their toaster. Go to the department store and look at some toasters. If you are going to photograph cars, walk around and look at them. You could even go to a dealer and sit in a few – have a real look at the inside. Do this before you take your camera to the shoot – get really familiar with the subject first.

Sometimes this isn’t easy – for a photographer to NOT take pictures. When I was in India many years ago – I took some pretty nice pictures. I was in India for a couple of weeks and really didn’t have enough film, so I was somewhat forced not to take pictures all the time. I worked this out by going for a couple of long walks each day. Once, generally in the morning, I would go out without the camera, then later I would take it with me. When I walked in the morning I just looked and enjoyed my walks and talked to people and generally explored. I didn’t go with the idea of “oh – that would be a nice picture” or anything like that – I just walked and looked and enjoyed. Now, I don’t always apply this but when I do I find that I’m much happier with the quality of result in my photography.

Martin Jones enjoys photography and people. You can see his photo blog at Photo Photo and many of his photos at

Martin Glyn Jones Fine Art Photography

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