Throughout the years I noticed that I visit the same locations around my house many times to see how they would look during different seasons and different times of day. Sometimes the area where you live would not be motivating to photograph because you see these things everyday. However, when I started photography I began to see the world (and my home area) in a different way. I started to look for compositions everywhere and I now have a bunch of spots that I'd like to revisit. I am always surprised that these spots almost never look the same. This is an example of a tree lane about 5 minutes drive from my house. There are 8 shots taken throughout the year in different seasons and different times of day. Even during specific seasons with only a few days difference, things can look totally different in a photograph.
Some tips how to go with this:
I often drive around in my car and see potential spots. Just stop and get out when you see something interesting. Look through your viewfinder with different lenses and see what works best. Use 70-200 for compression (good for trees and stuff.
Interesting roads, straight or curved can look cool on pictures especially with zoom lenses.
Look for lonely houses that stand out. They can often be found in the countryside. Some houses have nice trees around them that look different throughout the seasons.
I like to look at farms throughout different seasons because they always grow different things.
When you don't have time but you see something interesting from your car, just do a quick snap with your mobile phone. You can later check the GPS data of the pic and see where you took it to return.
Try to visualize how a scene would look during not only a different season but also time of day. How does the sun rise from it in the morning and where does it set in the evening? How will the light affect the scene? Is it at a place where there is fog often? How would rain affect the scene? Try to see this in your head and then decide when it would be worth it to check it out.
Push yourself to check a scene you like near your house as much as you can, even if you think you already have it in 'that conditions'. You'd be surprised how often a certain scene can change depending on weather and seasons. Also, you never know what happens on the way. I am sometimes unmotivated but when I push myself to go out, I often find scenes or conditions that I didn't expect. When you don't go out, you don't get anything.
Every country has their own charms. I often hear people say 'Where I live everything is boring'. That's because you live/grew up there! You can't see the beauty. Push yourself to go to spots that have photographic potential and try to see it. I often hear people in my own country say the same thing: 'The Netherlands is boring, we don't have mountains, everything is flat etc'. Focus on what you DO have (we have beautiful forests, windmills, tulips, picturesque canals etc).
I hope you found this useful. Feel free to ask me anything in the comments below.
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