I have had a busy summer. Have you?
This weekend, I had three shoots. A band (Friday), a family (Saturday), a corporate group (Sunday). I am not complaining--having a busy summer, and a busy weekend, is a wonderful thing for a small business!
But, I have to be careful that my feeling of rush, of excitement, does not travel to my lens.
Do you have that problem too? That you want to take a picture of the kids being cute, but you don't have the time to wait because we have to get to soccer practice--smile for the camera kids!--now move move move we have to GO GO GO!
I sometimes feel that way both as a photographer and a parent. I sometimes want to get the shot and go go go!
It never happens that way.
I had a wonderful professor in college who made us meditate during class. It was an honors class, and he thought we were all too stressed out and moving too fast. He also assigned enormous amounts of reading, but always said: if you only have a few minutes to study for my class, read the POETRY first.
Poetry and meditation. He was making us slow down. And do you know what? Slowing down made the room for me to do some of the best academic writing I had ever done.
Slowness in photography is much the same. I'm not telling you to read poetry and meditate (though you can! Both are lovely!). I am telling you to:
- Allow time for your subject (kids, pets, friends, whoever) to acclimate to the environment. Don't march around, looking for the best spot to take a picture. Give yourself five minutes to wander in your space before you pick up your camera.
- Don't insist that everyone look at the camera and smile all the time. Your subject NOT looking at the camera can yield just as powerful of an image!
- Realize that a great photograph is something that comes together whether or not you want it to. Sure, we all *want* great photos, but all we can really do is hope for them, plan for them a bit, and execute as we can. A five minute window before you have to get to soccer practice just might not get you the photo you want. But then again, it might... :)
Hoping you have a busy summer, with many small moments of quiet just when you need them.