No two photographers photograph the world the same. In fact, you can be standing right next to someone yet you see and photograph things quite differently.
I experienced this first hand when I went to Europe with my best friend and photographer, Trisha of Eat Your Beets. She was invited to experience Europe with Eurostar and it was amazing.
Each day we would go out and shoot hundreds of images. Then we headed back to the hotel and like kids on Christmas morning would upload our images to review and edit.
She would show me an image and I would say, “I didn’t see that.” or “Oh, I never thought to compose the shot that way.” It was so interesting so we knew right away that we needed a hashtag to document our trip and show how differently we captured the cities we were in.
In this post I want to share how we captured some of the same things but so differently and how we each saw parts of the city we felt worthy of photographing.
To see more of our images and hopefully to follow along on future adventures check out our hashtag #twocamerasonecity and follow us @clickitupanotch & @goeatyourbeets.
As you can see the following images of the same scene we captured very differently.
This first set is one of my favorites because we not only composed it differently but our edits give it a very different feel. We took these shots at the same time. It’s amazing how editing can so drastically change the feel of an image.
Trisha
Courtney
Left: Courtney & Right: Trisha
Notice how close our images are in composition yet we edited them so differently.
Trisha
Courtney
Trisha
Courtney
Trisha
Courtney
Here are a set of images that shows how we saw such different things.
Trisha
Courtney
Read more: Top 9 Tips for Remarkable Street Photography
My husband and I do the same thing! Two totally different perspectives abs it’s so cool. Thanks so much for sharing this post. I love it. And your pics are beautiful, both of yours :)
What a great story you two shared in photos. You are both so talented.
This was so much fun to look at. I tried to decide why I preferred one over the other. And a hashtag – what a great idea!! Next weekend I will be at a scrapbook retreat & one of the other women & I have planed to take a photo walk together… it will be fun to see our differences, and maybe to share some photos.
Nice pictures, what a great experience this must’ve been!
Nice to see the different perspectives. Great exercise!
Thanks for sharing.
Great exercise…love comparing your shots. Curious, did you also use the same type of lens? Or maybe you changed lenses throughout?
I used my D750 and my 35mm 1.4. Trisha used her D810 and her 50mm 1.8 & Fuji XTi and a 35mm 1.4 on her mirrorless camera :) I just took the one lens.
I love seeing this. I’ve seen a few other “shootouts”. It shows that it’s important to be you when you photograph. Because all of the pictures are good but different. There is no one “right” way to photograph things. Thanks for sharing
This is really fascinating. It is incredible what attracts each person’s eye. Thanks for sharing a bit from your trip!
I love this! So jealous of your travels but so happy to live vicariously through these images!! Awesome post. I love the differences.
Great job!
Love this post!
Courtney – I know you mentioned that you used your 24-70 2.8 on your recent trip to Paris and then your 35 1.4 on this trip…. I’m curious if you ended up with a preference? I have an upcoming Europe trip (with kids in tow) and will only take one of the above lenses, and i’m torn! but i’m concerned that i’ll miss the zoom with the 35 and the low light capabilities with the 24-70. I would love your input!
That is so hard to answer. It really depends on you and your style of shooting. I rarely didn’t go below what the aperture on my 24-70mm went to but it was fun to play with a different lens.
Courtney – I loved this post!! And I am traveling in a few days to see family & friends and for a wedding (I’m not the photographer but will be taking shots!). I hate to be weighed down in the airport so am trying to decide if I should take my 50mm or the 18-200. But, whichever I decide, I have a couple of questions:
1. Do you ask them to hand check your photo gear bag or put it through the machine? I haven’t flown with my DSLR at all so have no clue. I shoot with a Nikon D7100.
2. Have you ever used a tablet/iPad to edit while traveling? I think I would need to put the shots on an external drive. My tablet only has one usb port so I’m not sure how to accomplish this. I really don’t want to bring my laptop and/or the external drive I have everything on.
Thanks for any input.
Hey Dawn, Great questions!
Digital cameras are fine going through the x-ray machine. No worries there. I travel with my laptop and an external hard drive so I can upload all my images onto that each day. I have edited some images on my laptop while traveling but I typically wait until I get home. As for which lens to bring, that is up to you and your style. I typically only take one lens as well. You just have to decide which one will help you achieve the look you are going for on this trip. Have fun!
I really loved this post. It’s inspiring to see how different the photographer views the environment! I also loved seeing how you all edit the images differently. Great post!
love this post and seeing the comparison side by side. helps remind me of mnay things but it also drives the point home about comparison……..and how we are better through our variety than if we were all the same……… different perspectives of the same thing is much better than all the same perspective!! thanks for writing this post!! i remember yalls trip, has it really been a year already?!?!
This is a great idea, love it