Getting away from being boringIt can sometimes be a challenge to make an interesting image of something that millions of other people shoot. Think Eiffel tower, leaning tower of Piza, or Rome’s Colosseum. Every travel brochure, magazine article, or photographers’ image collection has one—and they tend to all look the same. Yup, you’ve seen those images so many time before, they’ve become boring.

I had this dilemma when we went to Puerto Rico for our Travel By Design feature this issue. The famous iconic image of Puerto Rico are the 400 year old garitas, or sentry boxes, around the fortified town of Old San Juan. We simply had to have at least one of them in a photo. I spent a while walking around the walls shooting, looking for an interesting angle. After a while I realized I wasn’t going to find one in the time I had, so shot the usual kind of images you’ve seen before, and then ran out of light. The sun had set quickly, and the wind picked up as I made my way back into town for dinner, walking along the western side of the wall. I looked up as I approached a garita, and realised that at this time of day, and in this windy weather, nobody would normally be photographing, so I set up my tripod and created this image (left). At the eleventh hour, I managed to achieve my goal—I got away from being boring!

Exposure

TRAVEL

DABBLE’S CREATIVE DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL

PHOTOGRAPHER SIMON BURN STEPS FROM BEHIND

THE LENS TO SHARE A LOCATION ANECDOTE

AND PHOTO TIP

On location in Puerto Rico

LEFT The money shot! Low light, wind, and a long exposure, helped create something interesting.

RIGHT – 1, 2, 3 Shot midday, every-one shoots like this. Boring.4 Sunsets can give scenes more appeal, but aren’t that original. Not quite so boring. 5 Shot in low light, which helps enhance colour and textures. I’m liking this one.

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