Best place for a landscape photographer to live?

If your favorite photographic subject is landscapes of all varieties (mountains, seascapes, forests, prairies, lakes, deserts, etc.), where

would you choose to live to have as many of these as close as possible for day trips and 2- to 4-day trips? If you're very happy living

where you do now because of landscape photographic opportunities, why and where is that? I'm retiring soon, and I'd like to think about

other possibilities. I currently live in Olympia, WA.

Hey congrats on your upcoming retirement. I was going to suggest NoCal, but you are already close to there.

 

My next best suggestion would be in a travel trailer. Tow your house to where you want to photograph, or at least close. There are some really nice places to visit. I used to travel 100% for work, Hawaii is really nice and has a lot of things that are on your list.

 

Good luck and have fun.

Scotland.

I moved to Las Vegas a few months ago. While I'm not exactly sold on the city itself, it is actually a pretty

good hub for some great sights. Grand Canyon, Zion, & Bryce NPs are possible as 1-day jaunts. Red Rock Canyon

Nat'l Conservation Area and Valley of Fire State Park are nearby, and Death Valley & the Owens Valley on up to

Mono Lake & Yosemite are reasonable excursions as well.

 

I haven't made all those trips yet, but I often have to remind myself that they're possible at any time!

Stephan, you already live there. You are within one car day away from mountains, seascapes, lakes, forests,

prairies and deserts. The Olympic Peninsula has a temperate rain forest. You have Mt Ranier with the largest

glaciers in the 48 states. Go east of the Cascades and you have prairies and near-deserts. Visit Leavenworth for

a Alpine village. Visit Winthrop and you will be in a western cattle town. You have host of lovely cities,

Portland, Victoria and Vancouver BC, and Seattle. Ferry boats on Puget Sound. San Juan Islands. Lakes

Washington, Sammamish, Grand Coulee dam. Many waterfalls. Lighthouses. Houseboats. Ten feet of snow in the

winter. Killer whales in Puget Sound. Snow covered mountains east and west. No humidty, no bugs, air

conditioning not required this side of the Cascades. Two days away from Yellowstone or the Great Salt Lake.

 

No rust belt mentality. No state income taxes. Rapture ready fundamentalist cults and rednecks are not prevalent

here. No hurricanes or tornados. Occasional earthquakes and rare volcanic eruptions.

 

We could use a little bit more sunshine in the winter. I am retired and have lived in Seattle for over 30 years.

The only thing we don't have is warm water beaches. There is no place I would rather live.

I think the answer to your question is, "Wherever you are right now." Every landscape from desert to jungle to mountains has great landscape potential, because all the real photographic potential lies in the photographer, wherever he may be standing at the moment.

 

Do you know how many people think Olympia, WA could be their choice?

Anywhere between Ile d'Orleans (Orleans Island, just east of Quebec City) and Tadoussac, in the 2500 to 3500 foot

rounded Charlevoix mountains (great canyons, 50 Km wide meteor crator sculpting, forests, varied vegetation, including

lichen, old farms, whales, fjiords, coastal beauty, food, summer festivals) or on the wide spaces of the south shore

(Kamouraska), sunsets over the Canadian Shield, tranquility, islands of the St. Lawrence. Little known natural beauty

and sense of peace. 400 year old rural European civilisation, both traditional and modern.

 

Farther afield:

 

Anywhere in rural Southern France, inland (canyons, amazing river valleys, hillside villages, mountains). Correction:

anywhere in rural France

 

NE or NW England, rural (coast, mountains, dales, Yorkshire, Lake District)

Ireland, God's own country

In the US, I think somewhere in the vicinity of Bend or Eugene, OR would be splendid. There are so many varieties or landscapes within a close proximity. JR

You already live in the general area. I think the Olympic Range, the islands and seacoast provide immense opportunities!

I think you should live in Hartford, CT. I would be happy to exchange houses with you.

It would be interesting to know more about the home bases of the top nature photographers these days.

Before Galen Rowell died, he had moved from the Bay area to Bishop, CA after giving in to his love of the Owens

Valley and Eastern Sierra.

 

John Shaw used to live in Michigan but I think the last I knew, Colorado was home to him.

I'm hoping to retire to Washington State someday! You're already where I want to be. We travel twice a year to Canada, where I'm from, and Washington State is close by many scenic areas, including British Columbia, Oregon, Montana, etc. I live in South Texas and just don't find all that many photo landscape opportunities here.

The only advice I can give is to avoid New Jersey if at all possible.

I bought my first 35 mm camera in vietnam (Konica Auto S2, great camera) and became an avid photographer. I spent the next 4 years in Nebraska, good assignment, great people, but deficient in scenary, and photography departed from my life until fairly recently. The great plains of the US is not a region of great scenery. Seashores are nice but not absolutely required. There are great locations in Colorado, and Arizona, far from the ocean. Florida has a lot of ocean, not much scenery. California has a lot of scenery, but I think I would prefer Nebraska. If I weren't living in WA, my next choice would be New England. I am not really a globe trotter, but Spain is wonderful for scenery. I am sure Switzerland is also, but I have never been there.

Monterey, Calif.

I live on the California Central Coast and the scenery and sea life are wonderful. But, IMHO Eugene OR is it. It is central to all the best the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Deserts and coast along with the wonderful rolling foothills for fall shooting, the Cascades for winter and The Blues and desert in Eastern Oregon, not to mention the Columbia River. But not worth moving from Oly. It is close enough to commute.

NOT Southeast Lower Michigan, pretty much anyway in the state is nice, especially the U.P. , but SE Michigan.........ugh!

It would be hard to beat the Owens Valley, CA, somewhere along highway 395 in the Eastern Sierra. The late Galen Rowell used Bishop as his home base, and Moose Peterson makes his home base in Mammoth Lakes. Wherever you live, you'll have to do some traveling, of course.

I'm going to have to agree with many others in that you live in a photogenic place already. I can understand where you're coming from however as the coast does get a little bland after a while (I haven't reached that point quite yet). Personally, Montana strikes a chord as does Colorado. Great mountain vistas and sweeping plains... (not to mention I hear the fly fishing is great). I'll wish ya luck with whatever you choose though. There's a whole lot of beautiful country out there.

Stephen IMHO you already live in the most photogenic area, and if you get bored with that area Alaska and Canada are close by as well as Oregon. Montana is close enough, if you are retired and have time on your hands. Wyoming is just a hop skip and a jump away.

 

I have wished that I had a little camp trailor to pull behind my Tahoe, but with the price of gas these days its probably just as cheap to rent motel rooms. The only draw back there is I can't park the motel in the area I want sunrise pictures from. Like the the Palouse Falls. Closest motel to that park is 40 miles. Northern California might be centrally located enough to have lots of photo ops. With the Redwoods, coast line, and Southern Ca. isn't to far from there. From Spokane Wa. you have a few differant lakes all with in a couple hours driving at the most, with Montana and Idaho close by. Anyway I'm rambling on. I personally think you are already living in an ideal location. Take care and good luck in your in your decision.

Take a look at San Diego county CA. Its got it all: ocean, mountains, desert....etc

I doubt that you would move here, but I'm pretty happy where I live - Bohinj, Slovenia!

 

The locals find it odd that an Australian decided to set roots here. I only became interested in photography 4 years ago but I see now that the opportunities are almost endless.

 

All the shots in my portfolio are within 2 hours. And that includes getting to the tops of mountains that involve 1 1/2 hours of hiking.

 

The thing I miss most about Oz is the ocean, but even this I can get to in 3 hours.

 

Good luck in your retirement!

So many beautiful places.

 

I think New Zealand, especially the South Island, would work, too.

Near an airport.