Out with a plan... or without one?

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I go on long drives through the countryside almost every day. My main interest is birds and insects.

Sometimes the emphasis is more on knowledge of nature, while at other times the focus is more on photography.

Before heading out, I ask myself two questions: 'Where am I going today?' and 'Will I be looking for a particular subject?'

Packing my camera bag

or:

2) I am going to practise with the colour yellow, which I often struggle with (photography-focused)

3) A specific animal or flower can also be my goal. For example, I like to regularly check whether 'my' buzzard or kestrel is sitting by the dike, in which case I have to turn left at the dike.

But when I have a plan and a goal... I often get distracted.

I notice that looking with a focus on nature or photography is actually a different way of seeing.
For example, because a ray of sunlight falls on a maize field in an interesting way, or a flock of geese flies past.

For me, it works best to go out without a plan or goal. Too often I fail to see the subject I had set as my goal, but then I become fascinated by a hovering kestrel instead.

Sometimes I look more at 'macro' subjects and forget to look around me, which means I am just too late to see a beautiful jay disappear into the bushes.

Partly for this reason, I usually have the 40-150mm lens, plus the teleconverter, on my camera. This lets me look at and photograph things fairly close up, but also very well from a distance.

I can suddenly become fascinated by a small larch apple lying on the cycle path. Then I focus completely on the technique of taking the photograph as someone using a mobility scooter.

I get off and sit on the ground. After putting the 60mm lens on the camera, I look at the larch apple up close on a small twig. This lets me see how it looks through the camera.

Well, a cycle path is not exactly an attractive background. So, while sitting down, I shuffle along the cycle path until I reach a tree, so I can place the twig against it.

Look again. No, too dark. I move the twig so less of the tree is visible, and then I get lucky: there is a lovely bright area to the left of the tree.

Now I just need to lie flat on the cycle path so the bright area comes nicely behind the larch apple. After turning a few dials, I choose aperture f/2, shutter speed 1/60s and ISO 200.

Success!!

What was my goal today again? No idea, but I know that I have captured something beautiful from nature.

Anything else I see today will be a bonus. Now I just need to get back up again, sometimes people come along who are kind enough to help me up, and this satisfied scooter photographer continues her wandering.

Finally: setting a goal for each day does not work for me, but regularly thinking about 'what can I look out for in the coming period?' really does. It keeps me alert.

How do you head out?

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