Incorporate photography into your life. You can’t capture what you don’t see.

Sightseeing is a great way to practice your photography. You’re inspired by the sights, enjoying a day out, and finding something new. You’re likely enjoying the weekend or on vacation. But what do you do when you need to practice photography with no “good sights” around? Experience is the best way to learn photography. This is your friendly neighborhood reminder that nature is just outside your door.

Practicing Photography the Hard Way

So why nature? Practicing photography, I thought I needed to do and see something. It had to be a landmark, it had to big, it had to be interesting. Living in a city, I had lots to pick from. Even if I were to take the nature route, there are tons of gardens in Chicago to choose from.

When I really wanted to be taking pictures on a regular basis, I found it difficult to carve out time and specifically head to places. I’d have my list of things to see, based on the consensus of the internet, but I hadn’t incorporated the habit into my daily life.

You shouldn’t need a target in particular to take pictures, especially for practice. Go out and find a subject. If there’s nothing around, that’s saying more about you than your surroundings. Make options out of nothing. Doesn’t matter if you don’t live in a city, have you seen stunning rural pictures? Fan of animals, nature, the weather…?

You can’t take photos if you can’t see the shots.

I pushed myself into heading out in the evenings around my neighborhood. Thinking it would lead to street photography due to the city, I found myself gravitating towards the trees. Of course, I incorporated the city around it. But I kept finding myself aiming higher and higher, and making slight turns. Doing my best to take away any hints of the city.

Focused in on the details and soon my images had no remnants of the city. Pure nature. As the evening closed in, the sky got darker, and provided a brighter contrast between trees and sky. My street photography walk became a nature walk, in the middle of large city.

My goal became to take nature photos with out the viewer catching on I was in a city. Was it possible? I minimized zooming in as much as possible, could I work around anything man made? The trees became my subject.

What’s So Special About Trees?

As a child, I believed the world was blurry until you were five feet from something. That was my experience, I knew nothing else. Never questioned it and thought everyone was seeing the same. It was just a fact—nothing better than that. Surprised when I’d see someone reading a sign from further away. Still didn’t catch on, just impressed.  

At age 12, my teacher (not my parents, not my siblings) realized I couldn’t see far. Constantly squinting, taking too long to takes notes off the board or projector. Even after moving up to the first row. My parents never suspected. As I picked up my first pair of prescription glasses, I excitedly wore them out the door. I don’t remember noticing anything different while indoors. This was in the late afternoon.

Walking out the door, my attention went straight up to the trees. Everything was clearer, I couldn’t believe it. This whole time I thought the world was a blur until you got close. I had to stop for a minute as I stared at the trees. Not only could I see them clearly, but even individual branches. And not just the largest branches but the delicate ones. Seemingly hundreds of branches, varied in size, from little wispy ones to thick trunk-like ones.

Even more surprising, I could see individual leaves. Thousands of leaves all over place. The outlines and the veins were noticeable. My parents smiled as they realized. Different kinds of leaves and trees on the same city street.

Suddenly clarity didn’t require coming in close. Reaching and taking it in for an intimate look. The beauty of the world had opened up to me upon sight.

So, yeah, kind of have a soft spot for trees.

Nature Photos, Hold the City

The goal here is take nature photos while hiding the fact pictures are taken in the middle of a city. To get an idea of weather, this was taken in the evening in March. I started slightly before golden hour hit. There were a few hardy flowers and interesting bushes but on people’s homes. I certainly didn’t want to be getting to close to people’s property. Even from the sidewalk, it might make someone uncomfortable. If I was home, it’d make me suspicious for sure. So that was out.

Two and three flats are distinctive Chicago residential architecture and my neighborhood is littered with them. It’s a combination between three flats and single-family homes. The height of a three flat, with each floor being its individual apartment, made it harder to ignore.

At a certain point, I simply started looking under trees. It gave dramatically different perspectives and an easy way to hide the city. Branches sprouting in all directions in an organized chaos.

Even though the trees were mostly barren, the bit of the leaves that stuck around really made an impression. Some were hardy, and that was expected. But the soft, feathery leaves were not. And some even looked like little straight but jagged lines hanging in the air. The photograph brought a little shock to my system. Like I must not be seeing right because this doesn’t make sense. A tree seemingly inspired by an eternal rain. I’ve taken pictures of rain in action that kind of look like these leaves.

Filigree showed up unexpectedly, or the origin of filigree in tiny little bunches of delicate petals.

Alright, the city had to sneak in. I kept getting distracted by the airplanes flying over as I live near the airport. Here’s a sneak peek on an upcoming post, Nature and City: How Do They Get Along?

Golden hour was at its peak when I came across this image. The tree I’ve noticed before because of its distinctive light, almost white, trunk under the paper thin outer layer. No other tree was like this in my neighborhood and the sunlight came in from between two homes.

Branches sprawling in the golden light as if it was modeling. A soft touch of life sitting on a dense residential street that almost no one notices. Electricity when I look at this photo. Nothing left but wilted berries. Yet life is strong, even in the cold.

On that City and Nature post, I’ll zoom out to show the whole street. The tree shines and I immediately got to work photographing around the architecture and streetlamps.

You can see the different kinds of leaves against the sky. These leaves were brave souls, hardier than me because I was super cold. Glad to see the yellow leaves and the sky even exposed a bird’s nest. The leaves look like dots and lines shooting from the tree in delicate wisps.

As golden hour slipped away, the quick period before blue hour started. These tree trunks almost looked like faces to me. I think the trees were going for scary or is it just me? These didn’t have the delicate lighting. There was a hardness to the trees. They matched the cold and were not amused. A series of tree hollows going up the trunk gave it character. Perhaps a favorite of birds?

A short tree in the neighborhood but with soft, feathery leaves in bundles. It was cropped because an apartment building made an appearance. The leaves were interesting to see, although a bit crowded to get the best look.

I thought I succeeded with this one, and realized the background after. Too distracted with the amount trees captured. With all the branches and leaves and dying berries, I failed to notice. Ignore the lamp post. The tree hollow grabbed my attention.

As the blue hour pierced through, the contrast of the trees against the sky was even more intense. I thought the contrast would go away quickly but there was still time to catch more leaves and branches in the sky. We’re essentially getting silhouettes of the trees now as evening winds down. I remember liking this street but found it difficult to avoid the architecture. I was probably trying to get the fade of colors. Bigger bunches of wilted leaves on this tree. It’s been trimmed since it wasn’t as sprawling as the rest.

Don’t Ignore the Ugly

But it wasn’t all just nature. I came across this strange little truck as if it came straight off a children’s book. Very out of place, this is a blue-collar neighborhood (more so a generation ago) but surprised to see it still. Either way, my eyes and brain were interested. It looked almost intentionally worn down, like a brand new pair of strategically ripped jeans. What do you think? On an upcoming post I make the argument to photograph “ugly” things because Ugly Things Are Interesting Too. Or if you’d like to see another evening photography walk, i try to find something interesting in a business park.

So if you need to practice photography, don’t make any excuses. Make a commitment to photograph x amount of times a week or month. No need to plan or pick out a spot suggested by the online masses. Find something interesting. Make the shot if nothing is giving. You don’t need a big landmark, or showy picturesque shot. Just grab your camera and head out the door. Just your friendly neighborhood reminder, that nature is just outside your door.