The value of looking in another direction

Today’s post follows on from yesterday’s which was a photo of the Shard.

That Sunday morning I had gone out with two other photographers to capture images of Tower Bridge at sunrise and that’s the one that’s my feature photo for today. Both photos were taken from the same location and just a short time apart. The Shard reflecting blue and pink clouds was the image I captured on a whim and with my second camera. It didn’t immediately grab me as my favourite but I kept being drawn back to it. It stuck in my mind if you like. That’s when you know an image resonates with you and creates some emotion, when you think about it even when you’re not looking at it. How this happens, I don’t know. We all have different triggers inside us for what attracts us at that point in time.

The thing I’ve learned as a photographer is to always look around. Once you’ve got the image that’s the obvious one, look around in 360 degrees. Recently I did this and captured an image, and at 180 degrees, its reflection. The reflection was the photo which resonated with more people.

This then led me on to think about how useful this is in life in general. You can stand in exactly the same spot and the view is totally changed in different directions.

When you get stuck, or things aren’t working out, try to move away from looking down that one road you might have been following and check what’s out there to the sides and behind. Heck! Go the whole hog and look upwards and down as well. You never know if you’ll find that path that resonates with you more than the one you’re already on.

Good luck!