With my dog, my bag of solutions and TCB
My guess is that most of you that read my posts don’t know what TCB stands for…unless you happen to be an Elvis fan. It stands for Taking Care of Business, and it was the name Elvis gave his band until his death…which is the reason I’m writing this post in honor of his death in Memphis on this same day: August 16th, 1977.
😢
I was going to college in Memphis so I was privy to a lot of things Elvis said and was repeated in the loal newspaper. He was an extremely hard worker and his mantra was to always take care of business, to not get sidetracked, mostly in the area of his music.
So, you might ask why does this relate to photography? For one thing it’s what I profess when I’m talking to students that are enrolled in my online classes with the BPSOP and the ones that are taking my“Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the place.
In my opinion there’s two kinds of photography: the kind where you throw a camera over your shoulder before you hit the door in hopes of seeing something you might be interested in taking a picture of; these types of photos will generally be deleted at one future time or another. 
You took it either because you love the process of taking pictures, you want to try out your new camera, take pictures of your new honey, you want to look artsy, all of them making the subject moot; and that’s perfectly fine as I do it myself all the time…trying to look artsy, that is!!!
Then there’s the other kind of photography. This is the kind where you are after that illusive “OMG” photo, and you begin to prepare for it. For me that means pulling out my bag of solutions, and that’s serious stuff!!!! It also means always using a tripod.
It also means whenever possible going out a day or so ahead of time and checking out the locations I’m interested in shooting. Along with my trusty Sunpath program (not an app) and my hand bearing compass (see link), I’m off scouting.
I do this because I don’t like surprises and it gives me a mental list of potential photo ops to store in the back of my mind, so I don’t have to stress on it at sunrise or sunset when the light is so fleeting…it’s the times I prefer to shoot when it’s important to me.
In the above photo I had this epiphany one Friday to take a road trip and drive all the farm and county roads that connect all of Texas in one way or another. I gave myself an assignment and it would be called “Backroad Patriots”. I went into my TCB mode and with my best friend and dog Gertie we hit the road. 
And so my fellow photographers, the next time you’re planning on going out shooting make sure you decide on what you want to do. Do you want to just shoot what ever strikes your fancy, and maybe, just maybe you’ll see something that does just that…or do you want to go out and Take Care of Business?
And now ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime. In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, on October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
JoeB
