Where does “the” photograph lie? This question plaques us all when we’re out on the hunt. Right, we try to put ourselves in the right place at the right time and with the subject and we still go looking for “the” photograph. There are times that despite this, we can’t find a single click to save our soul. Then there are the times when there seems to be so many options, so many photographs availed to us we don’t know which way to point. So many possibilities we get lost in them all and still not come back with “the” photograph. What’s a photographer to do?
I’ve been fortunate or, not so fortunate, to have this problem on more than one occasion. When a job is at hand, it’s not an option not coming back without “the” photo so strategies have to be at hand to work past these times. This shooting opportunity was typical of these situations. There’s this gorgeous, polished DC-3 on a tarmac with no one around, we had it all to ourselves. In the beginning, the subject was quite obvious but then what to do with it? With the Df / 18-35AFS in hand, I walked up to it with a blank slate of photographic ideas. There’s nothing worse …
When looking at the photos of others, there is one piece of advice I often offer in improving their photo. “Take one step closer.” Literally, take one step physically closer so that’s often the first thing I do when the story eludes me. In this case, taking more than one step closer brought me to this puddle and the light bulb came on. I was totally engrossed in working this find, moving up and down, left and right until I made the photo you see (handheld at 1/10). And while the photo is OK, it doesn’t start to bring out the shine or the aircraft or the aloneness on the ramp. That’s when the light played its hand and the options were quickly narrowed down for me. Yet still, deciding which way to point was not clear. Back to that universal photographic question, which way to point? I had the luxury of time so I could move and take the photo a number of different ways, you see a couple of them here. There will always be those times when, as I like to say, “You get the bear or the bear gets you.” In this case, I got the bear by simply looking at the subject, the story and moving … and a bit of luck. But in case you’ve run into this yourself, don’t feel like you’re alone. What’s a photographer to do?