Hanging around is a good thing. Some photographers are more concerned with mobility than productivity. These are the photographers that go from spot to spot quickly, jumping out of their vehicles, snapping a few quick images, jumping back in the vehicle and moving on down the road. They make a quick, obvious photograph and are gone.
I am more likely to get out, walk around, take a look, observe, study, consider and then maybe get out the camera and begin photographing for an hour or two. Then I might entertain the thought of returning if the spot is really that good. Taking time to understand the surroundings gives the advantage of learning to see what is special about the place. I learned this by being a view camera photographer for decades. When film was a dollar a sheet, you took your time and made sure that the image you wanted was worth the money, time and effort it took to make the negative. So, you pretty much had to hang around a bunch, look carefully and visualize your final print before you committed to spending a dollar on a negative.
The objective is to get past the obvious image and see what is really there, what is really worth photographing and finding what other photographers walk right by. While they are speeding off to the next photo site, I am making the photographs they left behind.
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