Different Perspectives

When I go shooting it is not unusual for me to pick a subject and begin to work it. What I mean by that is to find different perspectives of the same subject working my way around seeing the subject in a variety of angles or perhaps lighting conditions, the details etc... I'm cruising down the highway or a back road and come accross something that catches my eye. Of course if I did this all the time the I'd never get anywhere let alone back to my computer to process the images etc... so there are occasions where I stop to smell the roses, or in this case pastures, and take some photographs.It was a rainy day in northern California and I was on my way to do some photography in the town of Occidental when I came across this building. What caught my eye were the subtle colors, geometry and stillness of the scene. It looked like an old service station or automotive garage. My first instinct was to photograph the over all building, keeping the lines straight as possible, not to distort the geometry of the scene. I am always thinking back in time when I come across a subject like this to both the day it was built and the uses it had during its heyday. My next observation after completing the first image was the garage door, clock and light. I noticed the textures, cracks peeling paint and weathering of the building. I wanted to get in closer to show more detail. The next image was a geometric detail shot of the face of the building. I composed the image keeping my favorite elements in the shot.
Next I walked up to the building for closer observation and was attracted to the cracked peeling paint and particularly the clock, stopped in time, with it's rusty perimeter, spider webs and a multi colored patina that has taken years to come to perfection. From one angle I wanted to capture the clock and the shape of the light. From another I was attracted to the extreme weathering around the clock and decided to capture that as well.
This is what I call working your subject. It's a matter of looking at your subject from different perspectives and angles examining the details, textures light colors and shapes. Thinking to yourself, how does the light fall when I'm up close or behind? How does the scene change when I view it from above or below, near of far?


It's about playing to see what happens and what the subject reveals to you. Sometimes you get multiple images from the same subject and other times you don't even get one but if you don't play then you'll never get any.