I am very jealous of you doing that walk, as its always one I’ve “toyed” with, but never got my finger out to do anything about. One day, maybe.

I’ve certainly done this before. This particular occasion really brought home to me the importance, or at least usefulness, of the approach though. I didn’t even look at any possibles on the original walk; just absorbed the atmosphere. As you say, ‘gloriously soggy bleakness’; that about sums it up ;-)

In my view, there’s no better way to photograph an area than to leave the camera behind for at least the first visit. Nearly all of my recent photographing days in this unfamiliar land have been preceded by comfortable walking without baggage (except the emotional kind!) and just a set of various aspect ratio cutout viewfinders and a camera phone/gps to mark and record two or three possibles.

Interestingly, on the with-camera days, I often discount the possibles.

I really like the images here and those on Flickr. They capture the feeling of that gloriously soggy bleakness, which I miss more and more. And good that you’ve uploaded large files that we can explore on screen.

Cheers
David

As you say, standard shots of iconic locations are often good in themselves, but, sadly, familiarity breeds contempt and all that, and the exposure such specific views receive currently, in large part due to the ubiquity of social media, is simply too great for any impact they originally, and intrinsically, have to actually last :-\ Ah well – makes things more challenging and thus more fun :-)

OK, I hold my hands up. I do have one or two images of iconic locations from the ‘standard’ viewpoint in my portfolio but I do generally try my best to do something different. Nobody’s perfect, after all. ;0)

It did appear twice…. let me know if this is the ‘wrong’ one I’m replying to, though they look identical.

Good to hear from you. I’ve been reading your blog posts so I’m vaguely up to date, though I read the ‘Lengthy rationalisation …’ the day after I published this article in fact ;-) The inspiration for my piece came from Jezz, who commented above; it just took me a really long time to work out what I thought about the whole subject! Odd that I didn’t use the word ‘iconic’ anywhere; somewhat remiss of me really, though perhaps there is a sub-genre of cliché involving the photographing of iconic views, artefacts, etc. which is worthy of a post in its own right?

Even had I concluded differently, I think your rationale for visiting all these places is extremely strong in your situation. Quite apart from that, the pier, which I think I commented on in its Flickr incarnation, looks excellent; I’d certainly be down there. That blue pathway’s really rather a good subject too.

It’s not inconceivable that I might make it to Australia one day and if I do I’ll take you up on the offer; thanks!

Best of luck in your icon-quest. Mike

[First apologies if this reply appeared a number of times, WordPress logins rather confused.]

I decided to stop telling my wife that I love her because it is such a cliché.

Then, when our four year-old daughter started telling me she loved me, I told her not to use that phrase because people would think her unoriginal.

No, I didn’t do either of those stupid things.

What I did do the other day, though, was write a short and nowhere near as thoughtful and articulate blog post about not avoiding cliché. You didn’t get the idea from me, did you? :@}

I am, in fact, currently engaged on a mission to capture a large number of “clichéd” images of the land and cityscape around Melbourne. In the process, I am educating myself about unfamiliar—to me—territory and taking on useful ballast—and ballast *is* useful.

A well written and sensible article, Mike. Worrying about whether or not a photograph would be a cliché gets in the way of enjoyment, personal development, and, as you say, is a pointless cliché.

If you make it to Australia, I’ll be happy to take you to some really good cliché vantage points before we consume some clichéd beverages.

[Afterthought: the word "iconic" is sometimes useful in such arguments.]

Cheers

David

Thanks for commenting.

Quite right too; much better to just go to places and have a look then see where your own view takes you from there. As you say, and as I alluded to, it’s pretty impossible to find any subject outside intimate landscapes which would not be considered a cliché by some subset or other of people, especially if those people are photographers.

That’s a highly amusing anecdote too. My guess is that the inverse is happening there: people are seeking to avoid the obvious subjects, thinking that there will be many of them, and in so doing they’re using more difficult / expensive to get to subjects which themselves turn out to be still ‘obvious’. That must be especially galling!

Very interesting read and a topic I used to spend quite a bit of time pondering. I’ve since turned my back on fears of being cliché entirely and instead concentrate on my enjoyment of photography and the things that interest me. I love to visit even the most over-photographed locales if nothing more than to have my own image of the place. For me it isn’t about avoiding the cliché but about getting it over with quickly to be able to explore any other options that might exist…if I am able to visualize them at the time. When one starts to really consider the notion of “cliché” it becomes increasingly difficult to identify opportunities for landscape photography writ large to really surprise anymore. (Funny thing happened to me this past week. A friend of mine tipped me to a panorama-focused contest and I decided to submit a few items. Upon entering, I spent some time and flipped through all of the more than 1400 entries posted online and was gobsmacked that my image of Lochan na Stainge and Meall a Bhuiridh was the single, solitary image of Rannoch Moor in the bunch. Not even a single Stob Dearg, Old Man of Storr or Durdle Door either! Instead there may have been at least 5 or more of each of some of the more recognized arches from The NP in the US. Turns out my image of Rannoch Moor, that might be 1 of 100 in the next Take a View contest, ends up being quite unique insofar as subject matter in that particular group of photographs and photographers. I don’t know why exactly but I just found that interesting)