Not planning allows one to make fresh discoveries, to be spontaneous. Dorothea Lange, the great American documentary photographer, believed that "to know ahead of time what you're looking for means you're then only photographing your preconceptions, which is very limiting." Wandering with a receptive mind makes one open to new and different opportunities from one's normal repertoire. Planning can make one stick to tried and tested methods of achieving a satisfying result, remaining within one's comfort zone. I'm also, as I wrote above, a fan of anonymous places. An image such as Blue Snow is a good example of one made in just such a place and one that simply could not have been planned.

The one essential preparation that we always need to carry out is to make ourselves receptive to new possibilities for images. Yet for many photographers, because of a general and understandable emphasis on location, as I've already noted, more emphasis is placed on physical planning than mental preparation. Yet it seems obvious to me that the latter is far more important than the former, something which Louis Pasteur referred to in his famous aphorism "Chance favours the prepared mind". You can plan a photographic sortie to the nth degree but if you are not mentally prepared for the opportunities that arise by chance - and focusing on a particular planned goal can blind you to these - then you will be missing out on so many possible alternate, and often 'better', images.

Minor White wrote that, “If you could stop the shouting of your own thoughts in your ears, you might be able to hear the small voice of … a pine cone in the sun.” He equated the preferable state of mind to that of an unexposed piece of film, static and seemingly inert yet pregnant with possibilities, “so sensitive that a fraction of a second's exposure conceives a life in it.” Any image might feasibly be formed upon the film and we should be equally ready to accept what passes in front of our eyes, not blinkered by convention or expectation. We mustn't deny ourselves opportunities by blindly following a plan to make a predetermined image and remember that whilst experience teaches us what does not work it doesn't teach us what will work until we've tried it. Minor White felt that this receptive blankness was at the heart of image finding, “We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition.” We must be willing to tear up any plan at a moment's notice, to act spontaneously on our intuition so as not to miss the chance of making great images.

Biography

http://www.lightandland.co.uk
http://www.into-the-light.com

David Ward is one of Britain's most accomplished large format photographers. He has a very varied knowledge of photography, acquired while working for previous advertising, design and publishing clients. Over the years David has photographed everything from dogs to food to racing cars but landscape photography has always remained his passion.

In recent years he has concentrated his efforts on leading photography workshops for photo tour company Light & Land, taking groups to places as diverse as Utah and Norway. His emphasis in teaching is on the photographer's vision, rather than on what equipment is being used, and he passes on his knowledge in a uniquely humorous and accessible manner. Light & Land runs a broad range of photographic workshops for all levels of photographers – both in the UK and worldwide – full details can be found at http://www.lightandland.co.uk

David has recently hosted Landscape Beyond - a hugely successful exhibition of his work at Londons OXO Tower gallery which was also the launch pad for Davids most recent book of the same title.

All images in this article © David Ward

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