Shooting Famous Landmarks

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If you’re shooting a famous landmark, you can be sure it has already been shot a million times before, so it’s incredibly hard to come back with a photo that hasn’t been seen a million times (it’s not impossible, just really hard). Here are a couple of ideas that might help you bring a fresh look to a landmark that has been shot to death: (1) Don’t make the landmark the subject of your shot. For example, one of my favorite photos of Paris was taken by photographer Doug Merriam, and I love it because the subject is a French couple strolling along, holding hands, but the Eiffel Tower is clearly visible in the background. So, even though you can clearly see the landmark, it’s not the subject, and that really made an impact with me. (2) Try showing the landmark as a reflection in water, or in a store window (picture the window of a Paris bistro with the Eiffel Tower reflecting in it), or the Arc de Triomphe reflecting in the chrome bumper of a French car, or better yet—in its side or rear view mirror. (3) Show only a small part of the landmark—just enough that it suggests the whole. The photo that I’ve taken of the Eiffel Tower that I like the best was taken 20 years ago (on Ektachrome 64 slide film), and it’s of a nearby apartment building with one of the massive legs of the Eiffel Tower rising up behind it. You can’t see anything but that one leg in the background, but you know it’s the Eiffel Tower. It hung framed in my office for years.