Tag Archives: creativity

Behind the Shot

Exceeding Expectations

Creating a better photograph than you intended

Just a few days ago I had visualized a photograph that I wanted to make. I could see it in my head. I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. However, that can be a problem. I find when I have a specific vision in my head before I go out to shoot I end up limiting myself or if it doesn’t work out I just get disappointed.

I knew the weather was going to cooperate the evening I made this photograph. For the last few weeks it was either pouring rain with flat gray skies or totally sunny with cloudless skies. On this day it was a nice calm, sunny but some clouds floating by. Just what I was waiting for.

I live by a lake, like so many Minnesotans, and spend half my life driving around it to get anywhere. There is one particular spot that has an older wooden dock that looks very peaceful and I look at it every time go to the other side of the lake. I pre -visualized a long exposure with the dock reaching out over calm flat water and a nice graduated sky with some clouds floating by.

Fishing with Dad

The shoot

The evening approached and I grabbed my gear with excitement and anticipation of “the shot” I was going to make. It is just a short 2 minute drive to the spot I wanted. As I drove up I saw a two people out on the dock! What!? There is never anyone out on this old rickety thing… Sure enough, that very evening a father decided to take his son fishing on the exact same dock I wanted to shoot.

I could have said, “okay, that’s it. I’ll come back another day”. Instead, I pushed passed my expectations, parked the car and grabbed my gear. “They might be almost ready to leave” I told myself. They weren’t. I decided to just go with it. Accept what was given to me and make the best of it.

I introduced myself, had a little chat with the fishermen and set up my tripod and camera. I took my time, metering for the light and finding my composition. At the same time they kept fishing, moving around the dock with each cast. I made several long exposures and came away with some really interesting photographs but there is one that really spoke to me.

I could never have imagined this photo from where my pre-visualization in my head was. I had that image set in my mind as my goal. The resulting photograph that I have from that outing is much more powerful. I was really happy I pushed my expectations aside and just went with it.

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Behind the Shot

Keeping it Simple

Last summer my wife and I made it back to Montana to visit some friends and hang out in the area we used to live in. There were a lot of things to do, people to see and general catching up. I didn’t really make big photo plans for this trip so, photographically speaking, I packed pretty light. Limiting myself to my 35mm camera, a couple lenses and a few rolls of black and white Tri-x we hit the road for Montana.

We were able to spend a week with some close friends on the Gallatin river just outside Bozeman and hit all of our favorite restaurants. Our dog was in heaven again. Being able to roam freely along the river and hang out in the sun whenever and where ever she wanted. It was a very relaxing time.

Photographically, it was a place I had been many times before, for some reason I wasn’t really inspired to make photographs. Maybe because it felt so familiar. Not really sure, because it is a beautiful place to photograph.

Simple black and white composition of bridge at Sacagawea Park. 35mm, Tri-X, xtol 1;1

With a few days left in our trip we moved to different accommodations. We booked an Air BNB “down the hill” in Livingston, MT. I had been there many times but I hadn’t spent more than a couple of hours there at a time. Mostly to go get some lunch or dinner at one of the great places in town. My wife had plans that took her away from town for those few days leaving me without transportation, so I was relegated to hoofing it around town on my own.

At the edge of town, along the banks of the Yellowstone River, is Sacagawea Park. I had not spent much time there before, but it was pretty close to where we were staying so I decided to explore it a little. While shooting black and white photographs I look for simple compositions, I wasn’t really looking for an epic view of the mountains. (The forest fires were raging then and the sky was filled with smoke anyway.) I was able to isolate a few of the charming features of the park while I explored. One of them being the bridge that accesses the park.

The final photo turned out pretty much like I wanted. It has the calm feeling I wanted to portray with the still water reflecting the arches of the bridge and the discovery of peaking through the woodland to find the old bridge just beyond the water. Keeping the composition and gear simple when I made the photograph, it helps me remember the sounds and smells of that day when I made it. A very good memory.

Creativity

Wilderness at your front door

Like most people I have a day job. Photography is my passion and I am lucky enough to be able to make the kind of photographs I want to make on my terms. However, the day job does sometimes cut into my available time to shoot as often as I would like. So I have to be creative with my time.

Recently I relocated from Montana to Minnesota. Some of you may be saying “What?…” I know. Minnesota is not known for it’s grand vistas, towering mountains and crazy cool wildlife. But it isn’t that bad actually. I haven’t been able to explore much yet, due to Covid-19, starting a new job and renovating a really old house.

I wasn’t going to give up though. I work from home, like a lot of folks nowadays, and my new home office is in the basement. It has a garden level view window right in front of my desk. Little did I realize what a perfect wildlife blind this window would be!

A cardinal couple stops by my window often looking for food.

Many times I have early phone/zoom meetings with my colleagues in Asia so I am often at my desk before the sun rises. My home is in a heavily wooded area right next to a huge lake (duh, Minnesota) and I started noticing that many mornings when I was on the phone all sorts of animals were roaming around my garden. They had no idea I was sitting there watching them!

I thought to myself, “here is my opportunity to photograph some wildlife!” I started having a camera with me on my desk every morning when I started work. While I am on calls, muted of course, I can shoot away at all the critters that come by my window. It’s really fun and a challenge.

One of the visiting foxes that stop by my window on their hunting rounds in the morning.

I have the usual squirrels and chipmunks that come by. They have even started to look into the window at me like I am some sort of zoo exhibit for them! Then there are the herds of deer and beautiful birds that stop by. The highlight of my “working” wildlife blind has been the red foxes. They have been really fun to photograph.

Now many of these are not going to be national geographic images. Most are snapshots at best. But I have had a few keepers that I enjoy and have added to my collections. The point is I had to find a way to keep my creativity and my eye exercised to keep making photographs.