Photography, like life, is so rarely predictable. What you planned for may fail, conditions may change, weather may block. In the end, often, what you see, what moments you capture, what you see during and after the shot may surprise you, with the beauty captured surpassing your imagination. These are the moments photographers strive for, the trail you walk.
Freeze like a Glacier
A friend of mine once said "You move with the blinding speed of a retreating glacier.” I was taking a picture, several actually. For me slowing down, way down, is the only way I can function as a photographer. I know I must look like your favorite Labrador staring vacantly out the window, but the lab would tell you "we're thinking.”
When possible I will shoot the same thing in a variety of ways; horizontal, vertical, different F stops and shutter speeds. I’ll move two feet to each side and do it all over again. I pay very careful attention to what is actually in front of me. To stop myself from taking 87 pictures of the same thing I don't look at what’s in camera until everything in in the computer, I just trust the Histogram.
Walking the Dog
The wonderful thing about cameras is you can manipulate them to say different things; to show different realities. To achieve a point where the camera is a tool used to express your own way of seeing you must turn off all the program modes in your camera. Instead, use a thorough understanding of F stops and shutter speeds, write with light (definition of the word “photography") in YOUR way.
Understand Grecian Thirds, know what a vanishing point is, see why odds seem to just work. Look for triangles in Titian and vanishing points as your puppy runs down a trail. You don’t need a camera to practice these things, just take your dog for a walk!
Cecilia
I saw this profile in the sky at Noon and immediately thought of Cecilia Bartoli singing as only she can. She is from Rome, Italy and has been singing Opera all of her life. Whenever I need to remind myself that life is really a joyful thing I listen to her. She can beat the blues out of anyone.
This was a fleeting composition taken from the bottom of a canyon, looking up at the sky. Ten seconds after I hit the shutter release she disappeared. People think Landscape photography moves at the speed of a retreating glacier. This was a running cat.