Once again, Ansel Adams pops into the spotlight. Over the years I have taught online at the BPSOP, and have conducted my workshops all over the world. During these years I have quoted this very famous photographer several times. If you’re interested you can just click on “My Favorite Quotes” and scroll through them.
Well, I have another one that really fits the bill!
Ansel once said to his assistant John Sexton, “The harder you work, the luckier you get”.
First of all, anyone can click the shutter on their camera. It’s just about the easiest thing you can do when taking pictures. The hard part is everything else, and that’s the part that takes work.
Over the years, I have walked the Medieval Streets in Europe, country roads in the US and the Malecon in Havana with students in one of my workshops. I have found that most, but not all, will walk by something interesting stop for a moment and ‘take’ a picture of it.
I can tell you from over fifty years of experience shooting on my and teaching for forty years that unless you’re street shooting and looking to stop some sort of action that’s whizzing by you, or you’re whizzing by it, or it’s stopped for just a moment, the odds of you coming home with a wall hanger are slim to none. Of course that depends on what you consider a wall hanger.
But that’s another story.
Wall Hangers rarely come from ‘taking’ pictures. They come from ‘making pictures’. Bob Marley once said, “Some people feel the rain while others just get wet” http://joebaraban.com/blog/my-favorite-quotes-bob-marley/
It takes work, and a lot of it to “feel the rain”. But once you do, you’ll be ready, and as Eddie Adams once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”.
Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my upcoming workshops at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime,
JoeB
