Photographic Lesson Learned...and Reply

Cascade Gorge, Oregon
Handheld at 1/6 second @ F/8 with the E-M5

The other day, a good friend and fellow photographer of mine, who is one of the individuals with whom I spent the weekend with on a recent photographic trip to Virginia's Eastern Shore, sent this email to members of our group.  I thought the exchange was worth sharing as there are lessons to be learned by all of us.

On this last trip, I took a significant number of photographs only to get about a 1/2 dozen I may really like.  In my vain attempt to capture an image I wanted, I failed to remember that sometimes conditions just don't want to allow you to capture the image you want in the way you want it.  From here forward, I will be weighing all of my circumstances during which I am trying to capture an image and limit the number of times I release the shutter trying to make something happen that is not going to happen.  What I ended up with was a significant amount of tourist photos that I will probably be trashing shortly.  That doesn't mean that the trip was not worth the effort.  What it does mean is that I enjoy the whole experience but be more realistic about what will work and what will not for images that I will be very pleased with!

Here is my reply to him:

I think you have highlighted a lesson all of us, at one time or another, has learned.  It may not just be the weather or location or time of year that stymies us from making images to our liking, it may also be ourselves.  Sometimes the creative juices don't flow or we are just not in the mood or we may be distracted by some stressor in our life.

I see two courses of action in those circumstances.  First, one can put the camera down and just savor the time and moment without trying to make images.  That is a wonderful option as I'm sure you can think back and remember times you were so wrapped up in photographing something, that you really didn't take time to enjoy the experience. 

Second, we can try to "make something out of nothing."  By that I mean shift your vision and try to see all or minute parts of a place differently than we normally would see them.  Sometimes just start using your shutter finger will jump-start your mental processes.  It does for me.

It is not unusual for me to go out on a "treasure hunt" for images for several hours and come back without making a single exposure.  But that is just okay with me. It is all about the "total" experience and not just about making images.

I think we all go through stages during our photographic careers.  One of those stages as we mature photographically is we realize that, despite enthusiasm for the craft, we can't accomplish what we want to accomplish every time.  It is then we can expand our visions, look for other ways to stimulate our creativity, diversify photographically and move to the next level.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook


All content on this blog is © Dennis A. Mook.  All Rights Reserved.  Feel free to point to this blog from your website with full attribution.  Permission may be granted for commercial use.  Please contact Mr. Mook to discuss permission to reproduce the blog posts and/or images.