Fjellstad and colleagues turn photography into a systematic longitudinal instrument by asking how the first photograph should be taken if it is intended to support future comparison. Their experiment contrasts predefined viewpoints and directions with freely selected photographic positions. Standardised locations provide more even territorial coverage, improve repeatability and reduce photographer dependence, whereas free selection captures rare, memorable and visually distinctive features that systematic sampling can miss. The paper’s strongest operation is therefore hybrid rather than purist: combine fixed points with discretionary photographs. This acknowledges that landscape monitoring must preserve both representativeness and surprise. The study also exposes photography as a selective practice: familiarity, professional background and route order influence what becomes visible. Its contribution bridges landscape monitoring, visual methods and environmental perception by converting the photograph from illustration into temporal evidence. A view becomes scientifically useful when its conditions of production are explicit enough to be revisited, compared and interpreted through change.