Glance at the summary firstThe summary from the end of the lesson, as a road map before you start reading.
Research is half of the photograph, because when a place's most alive days, best hours and rules about photography are learned before you go, the shoot isn't left to chance. The local calendar says when, the location list says where and at what hour, and the etiquette note says what to watch out for there. Knowing the place's sun in advance places portraits at hours when different skin tones read in their own tones.
Learning goal
Before a journey, you will be able to plan your shoot without leaving it to chance by researching on which day, at which hour and in which season the place you are going to is most alive. You will gather market days, holidays, harvest times, wedding seasons and local festivals in a calendar. You will mark the places you want to shoot, together with the hours when the light suits them best, on a list and on a map. You will learn the place's rules about photography, religion, clothing and privacy before you go and gather them in a short note. You will read the photos on the internet not to copy them, but to understand how that place has been shot and what hasn't been shot yet. Knowing in advance what the sun of the place you are going to will do to faces, you will place portraits at hours that suit different skin tones.
The question
In the summer tour's last town, your friend goes down to the square early in the morning, bag ready. The square is empty; no stalls, the shops' shutters closed. The guesthouse owner explains, laughing: the market is set up on Thursdays, and today is Tuesday. At dinner the sound of drum and shawm comes from far off; a wedding procession was passing in the neighborhood above the village, but by the time your friend gets there the crowd has scattered. Their cyclist friend reminds them of what the guesthouse owner had said on the very first day: asking would have been enough. Why is research half of the photograph?
Context
In landscape planning you tried the scouting trip made before shooting a place to learn the foregrounds, the angles and the sun's direction, and reading from a map the sun's path that shifts with the season (Lesson M.2). In the first travel lesson we talked about how the way a place looks at photography, what is frowned upon and what is welcomed, is also part of the shoot (Lesson 16.5). And you worked out the hours of the bakery, the market and the coffeehouse yourself by walking the town at different hours for three days (Lesson T.1).
To learn the rhythm of a place, staying there for a few days is often possible; but if a journey is short, most of the rhythm has to be learned before you go. On a trip lasting a week, missing a market set up once a week or a festival celebrated once a year means missing that place's most alive day.
Simple explanation
When to go?
A local calendar is a short list showing together the market days, religious and national holidays, harvest and grape-picking times, wedding season, local festivals and closed days of the place you are going to. A town's weekly market, a village's olive harvest, a coast's fishing season or a city's yearly festival are that place's most alive and most telling days. The day a museum or a bazaar is closed, on the other hand, can wreck the plan.
The sources of this calendar are varied: announcements from municipalities and cultural institutions, local newspapers, travel writing about the region, and most important of all, the people who live there. Asking the owner of the place you will stay with a message before you go, "Which day is the market set up, is there a wedding or a festival this week?", often gives a more certain answer than the whole internet.
Where, and at what hour?
A location list is the plan in which the places you want to shoot are written down, each with its best hour, the direction the light will come from and how to get there, and marked on a map. A town's square lives early in the morning, a church on a hill at sunset, a harbor at dawn when the fishermen return, a coffeehouse in the late afternoon. A sun map shows at which hour each place's facade or view will get light.
The photos on the internet are a source for this list, but not a mold to copy. Looking at a place's most shared frames shows which of its faces everyone has shot and which face has stayed invisible so far. This reading is used to learn the spot and the hour of the postcard shot, and then to look for what lies outside it.
Getting the list onto your phone and onto paper before setting out is part of the preparation too. In mountain villages and on islands the connection is often weak; a map downloaded for offline use, the marked points and a short order for each day make sure no time goes to waste there. The list isn't a rigid schedule; when an unexpected moment comes up on the road the plan bends, but in the empty hours it tells the photographer where to go.
What to watch out for there?
An etiquette note is a note that gathers in a few lines, before you go, the place's rules about photography, religion, clothing and privacy: which buildings don't allow photography, what has to be covered when entering a place of worship, how some communities view photographing women or children, where flying cameras require permission. These rules differ greatly from one place to another, and when broken because they weren't known, they both hurt people and put the photographer in a difficult position.
The light of the place you are going to is a note too. The sun striking from above at noon in an Aegean summer drowns the eye sockets in dark shadows on faces. On dark skin the eyes can vanish entirely, while light skin can burn on the forehead and nose. Planning portraits for the low sun of morning and late afternoon, or for a shaded courtyard, makes it easier to shoot people of different skin tones in their own tones.
Visual evidence
For the next tour, your friend researches the mountain villages they will go to two weeks in advance. For each village they work out a local calendar. In one, the market is set up on Wednesday; in another, there is a grape festival in the week the tour will pass through. They message the guesthouse owners, and from one they learn that there will be a wedding in the village on Saturday and that photographers are welcome.
They prepare a location list: the Wednesday market at seven in the morning, the village's ruined church at sunset as it gets light from the west, the festival square in the late afternoon. They mark them all on a map. They see that most of the frames on the internet shoot the ruined church from the same angle, while the market has never been shot.
They write in the etiquette note: in one village's mosque women enter wearing a headscarf, at the wedding the family's permission is asked for a close portrait of the bride, flying cameras are forbidden above the village. They plan the portraits for the morning market and the late afternoon festival. At the market the dark-skinned cyclist and the village's light-skinned, sun-reddened old cheese maker laugh side by side; in the morning light coming from the side, both faces read together with their eyes and their skin.
Common mistakes
Common mistakeGoing to a place without learning its market days and festivals.
The place's most alive days are missed. The fix: work out a local calendar, ask the owner of the place you will stay.
Common mistakeCopying the frames on the internet like a mold.
The series repeats the face everyone has shot. The fix: read those frames to understand what has been shot and what hasn't.
Common mistakeLearning the place's photography and clothing rules once there.
People get hurt, the shoot stops. The fix: prepare a short etiquette note before you go.
Summary
Research is half of the photograph, because when a place's most alive days, best hours and rules about photography are learned before you go, the shoot isn't left to chance. The local calendar says when, the location list says where and at what hour, and the etiquette note says what to watch out for there. Knowing the place's sun in advance places portraits at hours when different skin tones read in their own tones.
Mini assignment
In this assignment you will build a preparation file for a place you want to go to.
- For a town or city you want to go to, work out a local calendar: market days, holidays, festivals, harvest times and closed days.
- Prepare a location list for at least five places; find the best hour and the direction of the light for each from a sun map, and mark them on a map.
- Gather the place's rules about photography, worship, clothing and flying cameras in a short etiquette note; write down which hours you planned the portraits for and why you chose them.
Check yourself
- Which is that place's most alive day in your calendar?
- Is there a place on your location list that has never been shot on the internet?
- Is your etiquette note clear enough to let you work there without hurting anyone?
Glossary
| Term | Short definition |
|---|---|
| Local calendar | A short list showing the market days, holidays, harvest times, wedding season, festivals and closed days of the place you are going to. |
| Location list | The plan in which the places to be shot are written down with their best hour, the direction of the light and how to get there, and marked on a map. |
| Etiquette note | A short note that gathers, before you go, the place's rules about photography, religion, clothing and privacy. |
Mini quiz
1. What is often the most certain source for a local calendar?
- A) Only the photos on the internet
- B) The people who live there, for example the owner of the place you will stay
- C) A map app
- D) The weather forecast
2. What is written on a location list for each place?
- A) Only its name
- B) Only the entrance fee
- C) Only its most popular frame on the internet
- D) Its best hour, the direction of the light and how to get there
3. How are the photos on the internet used in preparation?
- A) They are read to understand what has been shot and what hasn't been shot yet
- B) As a mold to be copied exactly
- C) They aren't looked at at all
- D) Only to choose equipment
4. Why is shooting portraits at noon in an Aegean summer difficult?
- A) Because there is too little light
- B) Because the colors are pale
- C) The sun striking from above drowns the eye sockets in shadow, light skin burns, on dark skin the eyes vanish
- D) Because there is too much wind
Answers
- B — Someone local knows best which day the market is set up or whether there is a wedding this week.
- D — A place's good frame depends on its hour, the direction of the light and being able to get there in time.
- A — Knowing the much-shot face is the start of looking for the one not yet shot.
- C — High sun is hard and comes from above; low sun or shade suits portraits better.
Summary card
- Research is half of the photograph: when, where, how.
- Local calendar: market, holiday, harvest, wedding, festival, closed day.
- Location list: place, hour, direction of the light, on a map.
- Read the internet not to copy but to find what hasn't been shot.
- Etiquette note and the sun: the rules in advance, portraits in low light.
Bridge to the next lesson
On the tour's last day the group crosses by ferry to a Greek island opposite. In the courtyard of a mountain village an old woman is rolling out dough; she speaks only Greek, and your friend doesn't know a single word. The woman's floury hands, her sun-darkened face and the stone oven behind her could be that day's strongest frame. Is asking permission possible without knowing the language? The next lesson takes up asking local people for permission with respect, a smile and gestures, and building a relationship with them.