When I take my camera out, there’s always a bit of apprehension. Sometimes, I have an idea of the shot I’m looking to capture: subject, framing, colors, lighting. Most times, I’m just wandering around waiting for creativity to strike with no end in mind. Again, and this will sound odd, I still have an idea of the shot I’m looking to capture: subject, framing, colors, lighting.
I just read a book by Michael Freeman called Capturing the Moment. It’s a compendium of photographs where he talks about each one, the scene, the circumstance, what he was looking for, the troubles he had getting a shot, all the shots in the sequence before and after the chosen shot, and other things. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. More than I thought I would. I like to look at other’s photographic work and, for those photographers whose product is similar to mine or what I want mine to be, compare their work to mine. Thumbing through the book, I got a sense that all the photos that Freeman took, I would have taken as well. Or I like to think that I would have. I connected with his photos.
But, more than that, I connected with his descriptions of the photographic event. I could empathize with what he was thinking as he described every shot. I was there. His narratives were my own. The struggles he describes I have experienced. The opportunities that he looks for I have also sought. It was refreshing to see and read another photographers description of the “shoot” and realize that he is really no different than me. I found the same thing when I started writing. Once I began reading other articles and the work behind them, I understood that I could do what they were doing.
I have come to recognize that the end is really the beginning. Know, feel, see, and anticipate the result and, more than likely, that’s what you will get.