wrr Loc: SEK

My camera is with me probably 98% of the time, very seldom more than a few feet away. I should never miss a shot but there are times that I've let one get away that I shouldn't have. So this post is a self help posting, not required reading!

Two days ago I was traveling east on 47 hwy, it was late in the day and the sun was hanging low on the horizon behind me. It was a big orange ball and the sky was smooth with many shades of the orange color. While I was speeding along I passed a pair of cross-country bicyclers going the same direction as I was making their way up a little rise in the road. As I flashed by I realized that in less than a minute they were going to be on the crest of the rise with the setting sun behind them, a perfect silhouette.

I had a brief couple of seconds that I could have slammed the brakes and pulled off on a country road, jumped out with time to get the shot. Probably wouldn't have taken more than maybe two minutes total. For whatever reason, I didn't...told myself I was in a hurry, that the sunset wasn't all that...instantly regretted that decision as the chance quickly was lost and here it is two days later and I am still kicking myself. I resolve to get that shot next time...

Just a few months ago, again on Hwy 47 east of St Paul, again late in the evening I see a very large bull standing on a pond bank outlined nicely against a deep blue evening sky, a crisp reflection on the water in front of him. I'm still ticked off at myself for not getting that shot.

Why do I write this..? Perhaps by having it out there I will force myself into getting the shot. I will try harder, I will take the time, I alone can can make it happen. Sure, I get a lot of pictures and some that I'm pretty happy with. Like a lightning shot near the Church I got a few weeks ago, it wasn't by accident, it was because of one simple reason for getting the shot...Being There.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Well...the other way to look at it is...it's only a picture.

It's not as if the world won't go on if we don't snap a shot of two bicyclists going up a hill....right?

We aren't curing cancer, we aren't feeding starving children.

I say get the shots you can...do what you can...don't fret about the rest.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

wrr, why are ALL the shots that we don't get, the perfect shot? Yet of all the ones we DO get, rarely are they the perfect shot, if even decent. I don't ever carry my camera. My shots are all mostly carefully planned. I get more decent shots that way.
Life is TOO short to have one more thing to stress about. I feel I get about a dozen good shots per year. Over the years they add up.
When I start getting paid to shoot, then I'll stress over it, cause then they will all need to be good, not just the ones that got away.
Yes, we all have those moments, whether we have a camera with us or not.
Drive safe, shoot safer. SS

crimesc324 Loc: West Palm Beach, Florida

take the shot, it is like being nice to someone, it only takes a few seconds but the effects last a lifetime.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

I agree, and we are always carrying around the best device invented to get that image....our mind. 8-)

Sylvias Loc: North Yorkshire England

This happens in other things in life also ! Always carry your camera and remember we should all take a little time out to 'smell the roses'
:wink:

LouieP Loc: Sebring/Avon Park, FL area

I agree...when you are in that situation, just think..."Stop and smell the roses". That may very well provide the incentive to do just that.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

I don't know which is more frustrating - the circumstances you describe, wrr or - you want to stop but there is no place to get off the road to park.

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

I have my camera(s) with me most of the time. When I walk - bike - or other wise not in reach of one of my cameras I carry a Panasonic LX-7 in my pocket.

I tend to feel really venerable if not carrying a camera. In the words of Alfred Eisenstaedt.... ""When I have a camera in my hands - I know no fear.""

About a year ago when the Aztec calendar was about to run out... I got this thought that .... What IF I did not have a camera handy to GET THE SHOT.?? Not only just the end of time as we know it, but the BIG ENDING.. I would miss The Shot of a lifetime.

A few of my friends did not understand the point in getting the last shot on earth... when no one else would be able to see it. I just wanted to be one of the photographers who died with a camera in my hands - and I would have GOT THE SHOT... (It was important to me.. I did (DO) not care with others thought of this.

I do think that you all here would understand.

;-)

Greg Brandt Loc: illinois

For me it seems to be a matter of priority, getting the shot or just keep driving. I find that more often than not, when I stop to take the picture it ends up being worth the small delay in my drive, and like you, when I don't stop, it irritates me that I didn't just take the time to do it. I try to always ask myself, am I in such a hurry that I can't stop a take a photo?

jimberton Loc: Michigan's Upper Peninsula

kinda like fishing....the big one is the one you didn't get or it got away.

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

Nice sensible message to yourself, wrr. I do hope you get a sensible response. :) :)

mccampbell60 Loc: Michigan

There are times when I have been so involved in getting the right shot, I truly could have missed the experience of being where I am. A cathedral in Hungry, photographing a magnificent piece of art work, nearly missed a performance of a traveling choir and organ player.
It lasted but a few moments and the group I was with was ready to depart. Five minutes in either direction and we would have missed a moment that could not have been caught on film, still or movie; the power of a giant organ, spiritual echos of the human voices, here and gone except for the memory. Shut off the camera and stood in amazement with a tears in my eyes.
The group was from a group of California churches traveling the Danube and others, briefly staying long enough in a few cathedrals to play the organ and sing in the glory of the building. Can one imagine being an organist and playing some the largest most elegant sound machines in existence.Or singing in a place where your voices continue to ring moments after reach your own quietness.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

JR, I for one, do not understand. You are describing an obsession, not a passion.
When I die, I hope it's with the woman I spent my life with in my arms, who cares where my camera is at that time.

Give me a life, not a camera placebo. SS

riverlass Loc: northern California

This is so interesting... that YOU don't carry your camera with you. I'm really quite surprised. I agree, life is short... but this is why I ALWAYS take my camera with me. I don't stress as much over getting the "perfect" shot, but that I might just miss something extraordinary if I don't have my camera with me.
It has never occurred to me that I could be capturing too much of something. I love spontaneity.
I will have to reexamine my motives and intentions. 8-)