Happy Worldwide Pinhole Day everyone. It is that time of year again, so I figured, since anything I shoot tomorrow probably won't be ready for posting until the next Worldwide Pinhole Day rolls around, I would get the jump on it. ;-) I also wanted to revisit a topic briefly, and this response is mainly for Ben (thanks for the long comment by the way, I did not count words, but you may have written more than I did on that one). Pertaining to secret locations, exploration and further thoughts. I don't have anything against secret locations, I enjoy exploring and the thrill of discovery too. I think what gets me is the practice about bragging about your secret locations. That is just boorish. In terms of exploring? I say go for it. Explore, explore, explore. If we did not have folk willing to venture off the beaten path we would have many fewer beaten paths to enjoy. You are right, Ben. Many of us do pick up cameras for very different reasons. Some of us want to bring home photos for professional reasons, some for the love of photography, some go not caring about the photos but how cameras help them see the world. In short, if you are enjoying what you are doing, then by all means, KEEP DOING IT. I cannot stress this enough. Because if you enjoy what you do, then insecurity doesn't matter. How your photos stack up against others doesn't matter. If it puts a smile on your face at the end of the day, then mission accomplished. I can understand the desire to root out hidden spots because on one hand, finding someplace new can be a lot easier than finding a new way to photograph a familiar spot. But I would caution away from following this desire too strongly. Exploring for exploration's sake is great, exploring for new locales because you think it is necessary to make your photography better is, well, it is ultimately not a good long term plan for becoming a better photographer. I believe that vision is one of the most important tools any photographer carries with them. A photographer with good vision can shoot in new and old locations generally equally well. It is more about what is going on behind the camera than in front of it. I know a few photographers that have fallen into the habit of believing that with the immense amount of photographers in the area, in order to get fresh new photographs they have to travel to fresh new places. So they drive out further and farther, seeking those spots that have not been covered. And many of them find amazing spots. I cannot help but think that at a certain point with some of them, the only thing changing is the location. With the emphasis on finding new spots and changing locations, there is little emphasis put on growing as a photographer, and hence the photographs they take are all the same. The locations may change, sure one is a mountain in the Rockies, the next a hidden lake at sunrise, then the coast. But each photo looks exactly the same. They photograph the beach the same way they photograph a waterfall or a mountain. Eventually I get bored. Perhaps that is my shortcoming as the viewer, perhaps not. Either way, if you want to grow as a photographer, it is not about the location, just as it is not really about the equipment. Sure, they have some bearing on the final product, I won't argue that, but if you are putting all your eggs in either of those baskets, you will soon find out they are small baskets. At some point you run out of secret locations. Or perhaps the moral is, you have to learn at some point that you cannot rely too heavily on the location, but your own creativity instead. I don't want to discourage you from your explorations, but I do want to encourage you to keep going back to familiar spots that others have photographed countless times, because there are still new photos there. Perhaps you will see them, perhaps not, but you will not know until you try. As long as you remember that those new photos ARE there, regardless of whether they are visible to you or not you will be learning a valuable lesson. Consider it a challenge then, to make something new out of something familiar. In fact, here is a good exercise. Spend six months going only to places you have been before and are heavily photographed. For example, spend six months at Multnomah Falls every weekend, or say... the St. Johns Bridge ;-) or downtown Portland. Why? Because when you go somewhere 30 times you learn something that you missed on the previous 29 expeditions. And what you learn you can take with you to other places. Think of it this way, in all the exploring you have done, secret places or not, how often do you get your all time favorite shot on the first attempt? Hardly ever, maybe never (unless you never go back). That means as you make repeated visits, you get better and better. Not just at photographing that spot, but others as well. And trust me, this improvement has nothing to do with whether that spot is

P1000415 Portland stone friese by Gilbert William Bayes, RA, Saville Theatre, 1931, now the Odeon cinema, Covent garden, 135 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1 "The Romance of the 20th Century" a 130-foot long frieze representing "Drama through the ages" with such characters as Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty, a chorus line of "Flappers" and theatre patrons Architect: "T.B.Bennett and Son" ------------------------ The Saville Theatre was built by Messrs Gee, Walker and Slater to the designs of the architects Messrs T. P. Bennett and Sons in consultation with Bertie Crewe. The Theatre opened on the 8th of October 1931 with 'For The Love Of Mike' a play with music by H. F. Maltby. The Theatre was built on three levels, Stalls, Dress Circle, and Upper Circle, with two boxes and had a capacity on opening of 1,426. The Stage was 31' 6" Wide by 30' 6" Deep. The front of the Theatre was imposing and had a sculptured frieze by Gilbert Bayes running along it for nearly 40 meters, representing ‘Drama Through The Ages.’ This is still to be seen on the building today and according to the Theatres Trust 'has been described recently (1998) as ‘perhaps the most significant sculpture of the 1930s on a prominent building.’ On the day of the Saville Theatre's opening the Stage newspaper printed a short review of the building in their October 8th 1931 Edition, reprinted in Mander & Mitchenson's 'The Theatres Of London' which said: The Theatre was damaged in the Blitz of 1941 during the run of 'Up and Doing' but was soon restored and operating again, and the production reopened afterward to achieve the overall run of 603 performances.'The stalls bar and saloon lounge adjoining, will please the public, special care has been exercised in their equipment and decoration. The bar, which has mural paintings by Mr A. R. Thompson, is 18 ft by 54 ft in front of the counters, while the lounge, which is also decorated by the same artist, is 42 ft by 40 ft. There is a sort of shopping arcade in and about the lounge, as in the up-to-date hotels, and it is quite big enough for tea dances or concerts. So comfortable, indeed, are the lounge and the bar at the Saville, that it is to be feared that something more than a warning bell will be necessary to clear them.' Programme for 'Spread It Abroad' which opened at the Saville Theatre in 1936 and ran for 209 performances.The Theatre was damaged in the Blitz of 1941 during the run of 'Up and Doing' (Shown Left) but was soon restored and operating again, and the production reopened afterwards to achieve the overall run of 603 performances.