On Saturday I attended a photography workshop and was quite surprised to learn that the promised photo safari to an “undisclosed breath-taking location” meant walking out into a parking lot. We safari-ed about 30 feet. It looked like this:

 

Perhaps when the brochure said “breath-taking location” it was referring to the cigarette smoke from the patrons outside of the coffee shop.

Nevertheless, I had committed to be there and my son’s babysitter was scheduled for 4 hours, so I figured I might as well try to make the best of a disappointing situation. I made the parking lot my creative challenge – how could I get great photos out of an area that at first glance held nothing but wire fences, cars, cigarette butts, and dead vegetation? What can you do if you’re in a similar situation, stuck somewhere that feels like a photographic dead end?

Well, you can search for color….

 

Or you can play around with depth of field:

 

Or you can look for a scene that would convert well to black and white:

 

You might want to keep an eye out for texture and pattern…

 

I liked these canvas umbrellas so much that I decided they needed the macro treatment.

 

Perhaps by keeping your eyes open, you’ll get a shot that combines lines AND color AND texture AND pattern:

 

What do you think? Do my photographs indicate victory over the parking lot?

Coming up, I’ll share some more photos from that day of the other subject available in a parking lot: people.