I shook it off, and my patients were rewarded.
I’ve always found this quote to bring a smile to my face, “Sometimes you’re the dog and sometimes you’re the hydrant”. So you ask yourself why in the world could this possibly have anything to do with photography?
It’s simply an analogy I use when I’m talking to my students that are taking my online class with the BPSOP, and during the daily critiques with those that take my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the world.
What I’m referring to is when a photo op is suddenly gone by the proverbial wayside. It can be while walking down a small street in a Medieval Village when the woman hanging her laundry out the window sees you and before you can raise your camera up to your eye quickly ducks inside…I’ve personally had that happen more times that one.
How about when you’re about to take a photo of a couple walking down the area next to the Seine and the golden light from the sunset is streaking across the water…and as your about to click the shutter a cloud comes in and steals the last moments.
It doesn’t have to be that far away from home…it can be in your own backyard when you’re taking pictures of your dog playing with your grandchildren and (kids and dogs are the hardest subjects to photograph) one sweet loving lick in the face begins a meltdown that is irreversible; perhaps for the rest of the day; you wind up self-medicating with a cocktail.
And one of the worse ones is when you run out the door to catch the sun coming up over the lake, and when you get to the spot you had picked out, you realize that there’s no card in the camera or your camera case.
All you can do is ‘shake it off’. It’s going to happen, and some days you’ll be the hydrant. However, you can salvage some parts of these situations…be the dog, and learn by them.
How you might ask?
Learn the movements of these women hanging laundry, and whatever you do the next time you’re confronted with this photo op…do not look directly at them!! Pre-visualize what your composition is going to be. Shoot a few photos of the environment and the light so you can get the exact exposure, then set it in your camera.
If you miss the last light, then look for an appropriate place to shoot during the Blue Hour.
As I said, kids and dogs ate the hardest to shoot. Try not giving any direction and let whatever happens…happen. Have your camera settings the way you want and wait for that one moment…it might be the only moment you get.
In the above photo, I was all set to shoot this family sitting on the chairs. As I brought my camera up to my eye the father spotted me and whisked his family away. Because of the shadows, I decided to wait for another opportunity. My patients were rewarded. Not only did a woman come up and sit down, but the dog wandered into my frame and sat down.
Before you go out for an extended amount of time, charge the batteries, put in a fresh card (never delete images from the camera), with a couple of backups.
And above all, you have to ‘go with the flow’ and know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em.
Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
JoeB
