Being an amateur photography type, most of what I end up shooting is opportunistic and grabbed during the course of doing something else. I very rarely go anywhere just to take a photograph. Obviously, as my family will testify, I am keen on going places where I might have a chance of getting a good photograph.

So, you go somewhere and there is an ‘interesting thing’ to photograph. Something I started doing, almost without noticing, was walking towards interesting things at funny angles. You see, the best shot is usually when you can frame the interesting thing best against the available background.

Therefore, while you’re family happily trudge in a straight line towards the coffee/gift shop you need to be slaloming like a mad man behind them. This way you can see all the possible compostions available from the combination of interesting thing and background. Thankfully my family have got used to me doing this and never bat an eye.

I have a vague memory of Dan Akroyd doing this in Spies Like Us to avoid getting shot. So, it’s handy for that too. I assume most people do this, therefore I don’t feel daft.

And look, here’s a handy diagram by way of stating the obvious in graphical form:


Approaching an interesting thing

Approaching an interesting thing


The other thing you must always do as you wander is remember to look behind you, the world, the light, pretty much everything can look better/more interesting than you thought as you walked through it. I look back every 100 yards or so, I’m always last to arrive at the coffee shop.