Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Photographing the same place in all four seasons builds a seasonal series that tells change itself among everything that stays fixed; for this, the place, height, lens and direction are recorded as a repeat station and on every return the framing is aligned to a reference frame, while the hour is chosen once and kept. Seasonal light, the exposure of snow and the white balance are taken into account; the permission of the person in the series is obtained from the start, and the tone of their skin that really changes with the season is shown in its own color with a fixed white balance.
Learning goal
By photographing the same place over a year, with the same framing every season, you will be able to build change as a story. You will decide what will stay fixed and what you will let change; fixing the place, the height, the lens and the direction, and treating the light and the hour as a conscious choice. You will keep a record so you can find the point where the camera stood months later, carry the old frame with you and align the new frame to it. You will take into account that the sun's path, shifting with the season, gives a different light at the same hour, and know why exposure goes wrong on a snowy slope. If there is a person in the series, you will get their permission from the start, and by keeping the white balance fixed throughout the series separate the tone of their skin that really changes with the season from the camera's error.
The question
At the end of October your friend looks at the opposite slope again. In summer it was a dark green cluster of pines; now the beeches among the pines have turned yellow, the slope like a yellow and green fabric. It occurs to them that in winter the same slope will be buried in white, in spring the beeches will fill with light green buds. They want to shoot one frame again and again over a year. But on their next return, will they be able to remember exactly where they stood, which lens they used? How does photographing the same place in all four seasons turn into a story?
Context
In the planning lesson you learned how the sun's rising and setting point shifts from summer to winter and how to follow this on a map in advance (Lesson M.2). In the telephoto landscape lesson you tried picking out a piece from inside a wide scene with a long lens (Lesson M.8). Together with project planning, you also set up keeping a project's question, notes and shoots in a notebook (Lesson 23.4).
Following the seasons spreads these three over a long time. A single frame shows a moment; four frames shot from the same framing show time. The difference between them tells something no single frame can carry: change itself. This difference reads only when everything else stays in place; that is why a seasonal series asks for being able to return patiently to the same place over a year and find the same framing again.
Simple explanation
How is change read?
A seasonal series is a series in which frames shot from the same framing in different seasons are read side by side or one after another. After the viewer's eye recognizes what the frames share, it focuses on the difference: the pines in place, the beeches turning from green to yellow, from bare branches to buds; the stream thin in summer, flooding in spring. That is why the things that stay fixed matter as much as the things that change. If the framing shifts a little on each return, the eye sees the shift, not the difference.
You decide what will stay fixed. The place, the height, the lens and the direction are often kept fixed. The hour, on the other hand, is a choice: if you shoot at the same hour every season, the sun's shifting path changes the light too and this change becomes part of the story; if you look for the same light every season, for example half an hour before sunset, the hour changes but the quality of the light stays close. Both paths are valid; what matters is making the choice once and keeping it throughout the series.
How do you return to the same place?
A repeat station is the exact, recorded place where, in a seasonal series, the camera is set up on every return. The phone's location record brings you within a few meters; the exact place is given by marks in the field. Photographing the stones where the tripod's legs stood, noting the lens's focal length and the camera's height above the ground, writing the direction as an azimuth angle, and finding a line that lines up two fixed things, for example the edge of a rock and a distant pole, helps.
A framing reference is a copy of the frame shot on the previous return, carried along and used to align the new framing. It is carried on the phone or as a small print. While setting up the framing, you compare the image on the screen with the reference: is the horizon at the same height, is the tree trunk on the left at the same place in the frame, does the mountain's peak fall on the same point? Some cameras can overlay a previous frame semi-transparently on the screen; this feature makes aligning easier, but even without it a close result is reached with a few reference points.
What do seasonal light and a person change?
In winter the sun is low; even at noon it strikes the slopes from the side and leaves long shadows. In summer at the same hour it comes from above and the shadows shorten. On a snow-covered slope the camera tries to pull white to an average gray and the snow turns gray; raising the exposure one or two stops keeps the snow white. Autumn's yellow leaves and spring's light green, on the other hand, are sensitive to white balance: auto white balance can shift in a different direction every season.
If there is a person in the series, a family member or a neighbor standing in the same place every season brings change down to a human scale. For a series that will last a year, permission needs to be obtained from the very start. The tone of skin can really change with the season: in summer the sun darkens many skins, in winter the cold reddens the cheeks on light skin, the snow's reflection lights the face from below. To separate these real differences from the camera's drift, keeping the white balance at a fixed value throughout the series, or shooting a gray card on every return, helps; that way every skin, light or dark, appears in its own color in that season.
Visual evidence
In October your friend sets up the tripod on the rock opposite the slope. They photograph the three stones where the legs stand, and note the lens's focal length, the height above the ground and the direction. They find a line lining up the left edge of the rock with the electricity pole in the valley.
In January they return to the same rock. Looking at the October frame on the phone, they align the horizon and the pine on the left. The slope is pure white; because the metering pulls the snow to gray, they raise the exposure two stops. In April the beeches are light green, the stream flooding. In July the slope is dark green, the noon sun strikes from above; they choose to wait for the hour close to sunset.
They put the four frames side by side. The pines and the rock in place, only the season changes. In every frame, their neighbor standing in front of the slope, an old dark-skinned man; because the white balance is fixed, his skin, a little darker in the July sun, and his face, lit up in the January snow light, are both in their own color.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeSetting up the camera at roughly the same place on each return.
The framing shifts and the eye sees the shift, not the change. The fix: record the repeat station and align with the previous frame.
Common mistakeShooting a snowy slope with the exposure the camera suggests.
The snow turns gray. The fix: raise the exposure one or two stops and check on the screen that the snow stays white.
Common mistakeLeaving the white balance on auto throughout the series.
The person's skin shifts because of the camera, not the season. The fix: keep the white balance fixed, or shoot a gray card on every return.
Summary
Photographing the same place in all four seasons builds a seasonal series that tells change itself among everything that stays fixed; for this, the place, height, lens and direction are recorded as a repeat station and on every return the framing is aligned to a reference frame, while the hour is chosen once and kept. Seasonal light, the exposure of snow and the white balance are taken into account; the permission of the person in the series is obtained from the start, and the tone of their skin that really changes with the season is shown in its own color with a fixed white balance.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will shoot the first frame of a series that will last a year.
- Choose a piece of landscape near your home or school that you can reach every season: a tree, a slope, a lakeshore or a park.
- Set up the framing and record the repeat station: location, height above the ground, focal length, direction, a photo of where the tripod stood and an alignment line.
- Shoot the first frame, note the white balance and the hour; if someone will be in the series, get their permission and plan to shoot a gray card on every return.
Check yourself
- With your notes, will you be able to find the same point a few months later?
- Did you decide whether to keep the hour or the quality of the light fixed?
- Do you know how you will keep the white balance fixed for the skin of the person in the series?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Seasonal series | A series in which frames shot from the same framing in different seasons are read side by side or one after another. |
| Repeat station | The exact place, with its location, height, lens and direction recorded, where the camera is set up on every return in a seasonal series. |
| Framing reference | A copy of the frame shot on the previous return, carried along to align the new framing. |
Mini quiz
1. Why does the framing staying fixed matter in a seasonal series?
- A) So the files are smaller
- B) Because the eye can read change only when everything else stays in place
- C) Because the light is the same every season
- D) Because the lens can't be changed
2. Which helps to record the repeat station?
- A) A photo of where the tripod stood, and notes on height, focal length and direction
- B) Remembering only the file name
- C) Using a different lens each time
- D) Keeping the framing in mind
3. What happens when you shoot a snow-covered slope with the exposure the camera suggests?
- A) The snow looks whiter
- B) The sky darkens
- C) The snow turns an average gray
- D) The colors come alive
4. Why is the skin of the person in the series shot with a fixed white balance?
- A) So the camera works faster
- B) Because skin is exactly the same every season
- C) Because using a gray card is forbidden
- D) So that the real seasonal change in the skin is separated from the camera's drift
Answers
- B — If the framing shifts, the eye sees not the season's difference but the shift between frames.
- A — These records make it possible to return months later to the same place, the same height and the same direction.
- C — Metering tries to pull bright snow to an average tone; raising the exposure keeps it white.
- D — If the white balance is fixed, the difference seen in the skin comes from the season, not from the camera's guess.
Summary card
- Four seasons, the same framing: the difference tells the story.
- Record the place, height, lens and direction; find an alignment line.
- Carry the previous frame with you, align the new one to it.
- Choose the hour or the quality of the light and keep it; raise the exposure in snow.
- Get the permission of the person in the series from the start, keep the white balance fixed.
Bridge to the next lesson
A year later the four frames sit side by side on the computer. Your friend starts editing them all: darkening the winter frame's sky, boosting the yellow of the autumn leaves, brightening part of the slope. At one point they look at the screen and stop: the frame is striking but no longer looks like the place at all. Between realism and drama, where is the line? The next lesson takes up editing a landscape only in certain areas, making selections by brightness and keeping the editing natural.