25. Visual Journal: Just one shot
The opposite of my usual approach
My usual approach to photography is the opposite of Just one shot.
Typically I grab my camera, head out to where I think I might find photos and start looking. When a subject captures my eye I’ll work the scene getting a number of angles and variations. Then, when I’ve done all I think I can do, I move on and start looking for the next shot.
This photo, however, was different. It came and found me. So I challenged myself. Could I study the scene, pre-visualize the image, go inside and grab the camera, find the right angle, set the camera, and then take just one frame that captured the moment? The added challenge, the scene would not last: The light would shift and the moment and feeling would be gone.
The result
Reflecting on the experience
Reflecting on this experience, an interesting connection emerged with my recent "Ode to a Sports Coupe" project. While that project involved meticulously photographing the same car over months (resulting in 300 photos!), both approaches forced a deeper engagement with the subject.
With the car, the initial, obvious shots gave way to a focus on details, perspectives, and hidden aspects that still embodied the car's essence. Capturing the lone chair in the clearing was different; I had to understand why the scene was appealing to me at that specific moment. Next I had to quickly figure out how I could capture the essence of the moment with my camera.
But while these were both different experiences, both forced me to look and examine and understand—maybe at different speeds but both more deeply than I usually think about a subject.
Other exercises?
Both methods feel like powerful exercises in seeing. Does anyone have suggestions for more?
Full disclosure
p.s. full disclosure: an hour and ten minutes later (after I’d finished my draft of this article) I did take a second shot… but by that time, it was really a different pictures—and it did not come out as well.
Stunning shot!