Monday, October 24, 2005

Waiting for Grace

We dream of creating that wonderful image, the one that everyone else will look at and go wow! In my experience, my best photographs are gifts from the powers that be. Sometimes we have something so perfect in our minds but due to the location or the light or the model or our own blindness, we are unable to produce the shot. Then on a day you think you are doing a routine job with no prospect of anything self -fulfilling happening, a shot gets handed to you on a platter, all you have to do is press the stupid button.

The great images are an act of Grace from beyond us. What we have to do is to keep working daily and keep the faith. We have to keep shooting and improve our craft. We have to infuse ourselves with the experience of great images and open our minds to what may appear before us. When a moment of Grace happens, you don't want your exposure to be wrong or your focus to be off or not be able to get to that stupid button.

You cannot get that great image without work. And you cannot let your photography become just work. Although it seems too much like a chore, we have to put our best effort into every mundane shot. Then one day, when you may not be expecting it, Grace...

2 comments:

pfong said...

This is the best writing on photography I've read.

leslie said...

Can't be more well-said! :)