Give it some thought
The scenic overlooks are there for a reason, but what can we do different with the lighting, exposure, framing and composition? What is your narrative for your image? What story are you trying to tell?
Scout your area - Pay attention
Once you are on location, take a look around. What do you see? What is the light doing? What is unique?
When I've got my kids with me, I task them to help Daddy find pictures, which serves a few different functions. First, they are occupied with a task - but make sure you do take some photos of what they point out. Pixels are free. If they feel you are paying attention to what they find, they'll continue to be enthusiastic and they will develop their own photographic eye. Second, kids tend to notice a lot of things we adults overlook or ignore. They have a different perspective on life. And they are a lot shorter, so their viewpoint is physically different.
Sometimes you have to wander off the beaten path a little. What are the tourists NOT taking pictures of? What is behind the group or off to the side?
Change your perspective
How does your three-year old see the world? Crouch down and see. What would this statue look like if you were lying on your back looking up at it?
This takes a bit of gumption - some people may inevitably look at you as the crazy foreign tourist laying on his back. Well, do you want the shot or not? I'm hoping that as my children grown up seeing me do this, it'll mitigate their embarrassment as teenagers ...
Revisit the location
One of the benefits of living somewhere, anywhere, is that you have the opportunity to see the same places under different conditions. In our case, we've been to some tourist locations around the world multiple times- each visitor that comes has got to see the Parthenon or the Equator. As I've trekked out to some places for the fifth or sixth time in the last 18 months, there is always something different.
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