A favorite location of mine is Sandy Hook in New Jersey. It has over 6 miles of beaches, lots of rolling dunes, winding estuaries, a lighthouse and the remnants of a fort that was last used shortly after World War I. I've been up and down this stretch of land many times over the years but there's this one strip of beach that I come to time and time again. I call it my 500 feet.

I've been asked why I use the same location over and over for my workshops and personal shooting. The answer is simple. It produces. All the images from the shore I've published or sold as fine art prints have come from this stretch of 500 feet. As much as I like exploring new locations, I don't like to chase locations. That said; I go to this spot time and again because I'm comfortable with it and know that if the right light reveals itself, I can put myself in a position to succeed.

This brings me to my point. If you have a location that works, stick with it. Work it! A great majority of successful images photographers produce is because the location has been visited many times. It's rare that you can visit a location once and be greeted with fantastic conditions to nail a superb shot. I've been to Acadia National Park in Maine over a dozen times and to the Boulder Beach area that looks upon Otter Cliffs even more, and I'm still waiting for a sunrise that isn't devoid of clouds and color.

Another reason to revisit locations is that you get to know the subtleties of it. It's in this intimacy with a location that one can then really produce a portfolio of strong work. You can always happen upon a scene and score a good shot but to really get into the soul of a location, it has to be visited time and again. It is through this action that you can reveal the layers of beauty that aren't always present to the initial senses.

My 500 feet has revealed many sides of itself to me. Sometimes I have left a shooting session there with a treasure trove of images, and at other times I've deleted nearly every image on the card. But one thing is certain, as I patrol this 500-foot stretch of beach, I feel very aware. My senses are awake and I become in tuned to the various subtleties that surround me; both in the large-scale image and the intimate macro shots.

You will also know when you are becoming intimate with a location when you find yourself using a variety of lenses in a shooting session. I have found through personal experience and observation through my workshops that people will default to the lens they feel most comfortable with when working locations that are not familiar. It's a safety net, and that's just fine. But when you get to know a location you will find yourself comfortable with all focal lengths. When you can switch lenses assuredly and in rhythm without rushing a shot, that is when you know you are getting to know a location.

I always tell my students to go and explore, but if you find yourself in a kind of kinship with a spot, go with that instinct and work it over and over. When you work scenes again and again, you will often find that fantastic treasures have always been right before your eyes, all you needed to do was open up and get close and see the possibilities.

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