It's interesting that you brought this up, as I was thinking along similar lines when it came to Alton Towers at the weekend.
There are definite trends when it comes to the photographs I take of roller coasters in general. So many of my photos involve a train either heading down a drop, taking an inversion, cresting an airtime hill, or turning a corner. It could be just about anywhere in the world, if it's a photo of a coaster train, I've probably got a dozen similar pictures of other coasters doing almost exactly the same thing somewhere else.
As for the Merlin parks, given how often I've visited, yeah, I've ended up with lots of similar pictures over the years. During the Tussauds era, a lot of though was clearly given to the sight lines, and how best to show off attractions from places where riders and spectators are likely to be stood. Merlin sometimes have some of their ride hardware a bit more out of the way, but most attractions still have some fairly impressive signature locations that your eye is naturally drawn to. This tends to make for some great photos in those locations, but also leads to everyone getting the same, or similar photos, albeit sometimes with varying degrees of success.
Over the years, I've taken so many nigh-identical photos at Alton, mostly with a lens that's somewhere in the 24-120mm focal length range, and there's definitely a lot of repetition, to the point where, unless there are some particularly entertaining reactions from riders, I'm beginning to feel like I'm running out of new pictures to take. At the Live, I didn't really bother taking many ride or area photographs. I kept seeing people taking photos or video of some of the iconic locations, felt I'd already been there and done that, and wasn't feeling particularly inspired or motivated to break out the camera for those sorts of shots. I still took some snapshots of people and antics, but that was about it this time around.
That's not to say that you can't have an interesting time taking photos at the Towers, though. During Scarefest last year, I was trying to keep my eyes open for things that were a bit different or unfamiliar, and ended up with some nice, and sometimes unusual photos that were a break from the norm. The gallery from that weekend is at
http://mouseat.co.uk/albums/october-2021-alton-towers-scarefest.
The day before the Live, I decided to try something a bit different at Alton. Instead of the 24-105mm lens I usually use as all-around go-to, I decided to take a 70-300 telephoto instead. I ended up taking a lot fewer photos than I normally would that day, and I wouldn't say it was convenient or entirely successful, but it certainly changed things up a bit and forced me out of my comfort zone. A lot of the wider angle shots I'd normally take weren't possible, but some of the shots I got of Rita, Oblivion, or the Skyride from down in the valley were a bit different from what I'd normally take. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
