How to fall back in love with photography – take a chance

If you are stuck for ideas to photograph why not throw in an element of chance?

This is one of a series of posts suggesting ways to re-ignite your passion for photography. If you’re finding it hard to choose something to photograph how about just leaving it to chance? The simplest way to do this is to go for a walk and use a random process to decide where you go.

This time we’re taking inspiration from some of the ideas behind something called psychogeography. The term was invented in the 1950s by Guy Debord as a way of exploring our relationship with the space around us. It grew out the idea of the 19th century flaneur or walker, who would explore parts of an area, sometimes wandering in an aimless fashion. Debord suggested more inventive methods of navigation to explore an area.

Exploring by chance

There are a number of ways to explore by chance.

One method is to explore somewhere with the map of somewhere else. You might try to navigate Paris with a map of New York, for example!

A second option is to draw a straight line in any direction on a map and try to stick as closely as you can to the line.

Alternatively simply make a random choice of direction every time you come to a junction. You can do this with a toss of a coin or letting an app on your phone make the choice for you.

Bristol

I tried this method recently when I was visiting Bristol in the west country of England. I was with my sister and we were walking through a part of the town centre on a Friday morning just after breakfast. It was still quite early and we hadn’t planned our day very much yet.

As we explored I thought it would be fun to throw in a bit of chance so I asked my sister to make the choice. At each junction I asked her to decide, without thinking too much which way to go; left, right or straight on. For the next hour or so we took the turns based upon her decision at each junction.

I did not ask her if there was any rationale behind her decision. Perhaps there was something that had attracted her interest in one direction, or maybe she really was just choosing left, right or straight ahead randomly. In any case, for me, it was a random choice. I just followed her decision; at every turn I deferred to her in the choice of route we should take.

The route took us past

• the cathedral where an obliging street sweeper waited a few moments to take my photograph before clearing up the leaves that were the composition;
• several monuments including those of social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy (topped by a gull) and politician Edmund Burke (complete with the stars of the EU on old cotton bag;
• the oldest Catholic church in Bristol, that used to stand on the harbourside but now stands on Colston Avenue where buses have replaced boats,
• a car park illustrating that Bristol’s architecture includes a fair amount of brutalism;
• a ruined church, now a war memorial;
• and, finally, a main road back into the town centre (and more functional architecture)

Some of it was not in the traditional parts of the city. It was a chance to explore parts of the town off the beaten track. For me it was the opportunity to take some photographs that I wouldn’t otherwise have taken.

Thank you to my sister for being my random navigation device 🙂

Exploring by chance is a great way to discover places, sometimes even the familiar from a different angle. It can open you up to new sights and inspire you to take photographs.

What do you do when you visit somewhere? Have you ever tried exploring in a random manner? If you have, let me know. I’d love to hear how you got on!