PRO COLUMN
VERITY MILLIGAN considers the creative satisfaction of unintended opportunities
Verity Milligan on shoots not going to plan
Have you ever had a set idea in your mind regarding what you want to photograph or what conditions you’d like to shoot in? If so, then you’ve presumably felt the sharp sting of disappointment when things inevitably don’t quite work out. The flipside to this is when you head out prepared to shoot something specific and find your attention diverted to a scene that’s very different. In my experience, it is moments like this that can ultimately end up being the most creatively satisfying.
Admittedly, I’m perhaps not the most organised of photographers, in much the same way that I’m not particularly technical. I’m an intuitive creative, preferring to read the landscape and shoot according to how I feel. I’ll have a sketch of what I might like to achieve when I’m out shooting, but ultimately I realise that the conditions might have a different idea.
As a landscape photographer, the weather can be unforgiving when it comes to meddling with my plans. Often this involves flat grey or even clear blue skies, both of which are not easy conditions with which to work. When the weather doesn’t comply, it means I have to think outside the box. On one particularly clear, bright morning, I was exploring my home city of Birmingham. The light was too harsh for meaningful urban landscapes, and after taking some frames that were likely to never see the light of day, I returned to my car feeling particularly frustrated.
On my route, I wandered passed an innocuous water feature, glinting in the light, mirroring the surrounding office buildings, and it caught my attention. In the breeze, gentle ripples distorted the reflected architecture, creating fascinating, fleeting shapes. Shooting with a circular polariser attached to my lens meant I was able to enhance the reflections to reveal them in all their glory. As the water shifted and changed, it gave the appearance of fabric, such as silk. My style can be somewhat literal, so this moment of abstract creativity helped me to go outside of my photographic comfort zone.
I find that plans often change at the last minute for a myriad of reasons, especially during these uncertain times. The natural reaction to this might be frustration, but some of my favourite images from the last couple of years have come when I’ve embraced the limitations placed upon me.
So, the next time circumstance foils your best-laid plans, have a look around and see if fate is intervening to show you something more intriguing than you could ever have imagined before you set out.