Sunday, January 9, 2011

Luck of the Draw


Is my photography all skill or am I just lucky? Well, it is both, but it is not the main reason I succeed. You have to be there. That is really 99% of the photo. If your not there, you won't get the photo. You need to go out looking for the compositions you want. Once you are out there looking it is luck's turn to help you out. Luck is what make a good scene great. Luck is what lines everything up for that once in a lifetime amazing shot. Luck is useless if you aren't out looking. Skill is what fine tunes the photo. Skill is what helps you see and capture strong compositional elements. It is skill that fine tunes your camera into a skilled tool. You need all three elements to pull off great photos.

Skills can be learned over time through repetition, training, and analysis of your own work and others. This is something that may come easier for some and harder for others, but in the end you have the power to advance yourself as far as you want. 

Luck is luck. You have very little control over luck. You can sometimes improve your chances of getting lucky by putting yourself in ideal conditions for what you want to capture. If you want to capture interesting clouds, you might be luckier if you go out on a cloudy day. If you want to capture wildlife, luck may be more on your side in the country rather then in an urban setting. But luck will be what puts what you want where you want it, in the right conditions at the right time.

When you really boil it down though, you just have to be there. You need to get out and get what you want. Being there will almost always get you something. It may not be the once in a lifetime shot you wanted but those are few and far between. Luck and skills will not go far unless your in position to utilize them. So for your New Year's resolution, you may want to just get out there and capture something that you want, once in a lifetime or not.