Recently I needed to make a short road trip to a town about 50 miles from my home. Living in a rural area, there are very few highways linking communities so it is necessary to travel on smaller roads. Sometimes it is possible to make trips using state roads which double as truck routes and therefore the traffic is often heavy. If speed is not a necessity, it is usually my preference to use more local roads. And by using less traveled routes, I can use the time to scout potential locations for photography.
This method of scouting locations feels accidental because it is not really my main purpose for the travel. Additionally, you never know what you might find. Unless one travels these routes regularly, the landscape changes from month to month and sometimes even more rapidly. Each change on the landscape can seem like a new vista. As the views change, so do the opportunities to capture an image. As photographers, we only record a fleeting moment. We only get a specific lighting of the scene once. This makes it imperative that a photographer keep a record of potential locations that may yield that stunning image.
Because the landscape can change so rapidly, it is important to record your potential photo shoot locations rather than rely on memory. Whenever I travel, and usually when I’m only doing routine driving, I have a notebook and a pencil at the ready. This enables me to make quick notes about a possible location when I’m at a safe stop (do NOT write notes while driving!). The pencil is used rather than pen because it is not affected by heat or cold. I learned many years ago not to depend on my memory and that a pencil and paper are crucial to my follow-up. If you are technologically inclined you could possibly accomplish the same thing through voice-to-text apps for your cell phone.
The data I record is very simple: time of day, weather, object to be photographed, and the location. This gives all the basic information for me to determine the best times to return to actually shoot the images. Of course, if I have the time and a camera I can stop to take photos and then the noted information becomes vital if I cannot download the memory card right away. And once I download the photos, the information is used to group the shots withing my digital filing system.
This pre-planning keeps me organized, helps me plan specific photo excursions, and gives me the data I want for sorting and filing. By keeping a record I can also return to the site to track an object or location over time (for example, a landscape in all four seasons). Try this method for yourself to see if it is useful for your own photo journey.