I need a creative push

Netskimmer · Jun 25, 2012

My photography club has informal photo competitions and the theme for the next one is 'the road less traveled' I don't want to do some cliche shot of a dirt road but for the life of me I can't seem to come up with anything else. I was thinking of a picture that portrays how the phrase is usually used, a choice not often made, a life not normally lived, that sort of thing but I can't seem to come up with anything. :banghead: I have tried google but I just get pictures of book covers and pictures of (naturally) old dirt roads. Does anyone have any ideas that could send me in another direction?

yerlem · Jun 25, 2012

well, what you said...someone who chose to live life ina different way, "outside the system"...a backpacker, a nomad, something like that?

pgriz · Jun 25, 2012

"The road less travelled" can be a metaphor for a different dirction than most, but generally out of choice, not necessity.

Some ideas: a lone bicyclist next to a line of cars, a walker besides a highway, a praying person surrounded by those indifferent to spirituality, a person picking up the trash that others throw down, a person talking to a crying child while others rush past, a person reading a book while others peck away at their smartphones... and so on. Think of the exception to the general rule.

Netskimmer · Jun 25, 2012

Yeah, I get the concept, choosing to go against the grain and all. I like your idea of a book vs smartphones. I don't really want to recruit a bunch of people to stage a shoot though and it might be difficult to just stumble on a scene like that. I work with horses a good deal. Perhaps someone on horseback in a place you wouldn't expect them like a gas station. I've always wanted to take a horse through a fast food drive through... Of coarse I couldn't be the one on horseback since I need to take the picture.

Oh, I have an idea. I have the collected stories of Sherlock Holmes in hardcover and we have a theater that is closed down. I could get a poster for one of the movies and sick it up by the entrance then take a shot of me sitting out front reading the book.