Are you aiming for mastery in a specific genre or type or exploring various styles and situations? (Page 5): Real serendipity must involve some fortuitous coincidence. Catching an...

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R.G. wrote:

The Serendipitous Moment could have been written alongside The Decisive Moment. The Serendipitous Moment would be more about anticipating the unexpected.

Real serendipity must involve some fortuitous coincidence. Catching an unexpectedly terrific expression on your child is not serendipity. If the child is in the park and that expression is resulting from a pigeon landing upon her hat, THAT would definitely be serendipity. HCBs own description of being ready to pounce at the "decisive moment" is NOT connected to serendipity, altho acoarst serendipity could suddenly interude all of its own accord !

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BobHartung wrote:

Seth Resnick who teams up with John Paul Caponigro on many workshops would argue forcefully that all successful photographers develop a style of their own. These two are like night and day with their styles (just look at their portfolios) but they agree on the approach to photography.

Truly huge sincerest appreciative congrats on you, Bob, as possibly the only Hawgster to reference any masters other than "moonrise guy". Not joking.

cahale Loc: San Angelo, TX

JZA B1 wrote:

I see some people only posting landscapes. Or only... (show quote)

To me, it isn't about a "style." It's about whether I like what I'm seeing and whether I can translate a reasonable facsimile to screen or paper. I like churches and other elaborate buildings. I like landscapes from desert to rain forest. I like animals from insects to whales. I like water - falls and seas and lakes and rivers. I occasionally like people including the beautiful, the outrageous, and those full of character (you define it - I just see it). In all cases, the criterium is "do I like it?"

A. T.

terryMc wrote:

First of all, I am (mostly) an amateur and I can s... (show quote)

Well, I like you, started this passion late (61yrs. old) in life and I have photographed just about everything but my passion is wildlife and landscapes. While I have acquired several Nikon DSLRs, I have found myself becoming more intrigued with film photography again. I recently purchased a Hasselblad 500CM and can't wait to begin shooting with it and learning film photography. Although digital photography has moved light years ahead of film, I believe that film photography can cause us to slow down and really appreciate this wonderful art in all of its beauty. Digital photography will always be my main focus but I still believe that film photography has its place and hopefully will be around for many more years to come.

Dbrow411 Loc: South Daytona, FL

If you have no interest in something, why even try?

R.G. Loc: Scotland

User ID wrote:

... HCBs own description of being ready to pounce at the "decisive moment" is NOT connected to serendipity...

To increase our chances of catching a serendipitous moment, the best preparation is being ready to pounce at an unexpected moment. We can't plan for unexpected moments the same way we can plan for decisive moments, but we can try to be ready for them.

Periwinkle Annie Loc: Annapolis

Longshadow wrote:

It all boils down to personal tastes and interest.
Characteristically, I don't do birds or flowers. Occasionally four footed animals though.
Primarily scenics.

This is my general approach, along with close up flowers

home brewer Loc: Fort Wayne, Indiana

I mostly shoot photos with the D850 and f2.8 glass of friends and families and occasionally get some great shots. I am not willing to spend money on a long (> 300 mm) lens to shoot birds and do not live near many wild animals. We have no cute dogs or cats. The landscape near me is mostly boring to me.

I do record our European vacations using the d500 and assorted lenses. I use the D500 equipment because it is lighter. Sometimes I nail it and get a shot I print at 8x10 or larger. We general travel to out of the way places and get shots we do not often see. We have been to the major Italian, German and UK cities many times in the last 50 years and have no desire to fight the crowds during a new visit.
Most of the time I just put together a slideshow with my shots and the ones my wife takes with her iPhone. We take the good shots and make a photo photo (4x6) that we can look at and add the day notes I write when we travel. We now have more than 20 books.

I want to print shots that I do not see on the internet, magazines or other sources. I will not post shots of my grandchildren for public view.
I rarely post shots on UHH. When I do there are some that give helpful comments.

One complaint I have is than many places have so much haze that I am just not happy with the shot.

Dbrow411 Loc: South Daytona, FL

Way back in the day, one of the photogs who worked for the studio I worked at used that camera. The photos it took were absolutely awesome. What took me down the path in a different direction was the hours spent in the darkroom. After an ongoing 30 year career in CAD drafting, I've started on a possibility new path back into professional photography. Time will tell but you do have one awesome camera.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

Dbrow411 wrote:

Way back in the day, one of the photogs who worked for the studio I worked at used that camera. The photos it took were absolutely awesome. What took me down the path in a different direction was the hours spent in the darkroom. After an ongoing 30 year career in CAD drafting, I've started on a possibility new path back into professional photography. Time will tell but you do have one awesome camera.

If you don't use Quote Reply we can't know which camera you are talking about.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Dbrow411 wrote:

Way back in the day, one of the photogs who worked for the studio I worked at used that camera. The photos it took were absolutely awesome. What took me down the path in a different direction was the hours spent in the darkroom. After an ongoing 30 year career in CAD drafting, I've started on a possibility new path back into professional photography. Time will tell but you do have one awesome camera.

"The photos it took"???????????????

Dbrow411 Loc: South Daytona, FL

Are you seriously going to mince words like that? Okay, the photos that were taken with it. Better? 🙄

Fotomanaz Loc: Arizona

Style, genre and photographic exploration may have to do with the beginnings of your affair with the camera

I was handed a 35 mm Leica in 1968 and asked to document my experiences in Vietnam.

My education came from the Leica manual and the manual for the light meter included in the "kit".

My next "job" was with a newspaper, so in a sense, my style tends toward photojournalism.

I shot a lot of sports, so action photography became one of my interests, including auto racing and motocross.

Being married to a fine artist, she dragged me out at the crack of dawn to way off the grid to shoot some of her favorites.

I was once asked to fill in as a medical photographer when the current one was on vacation for two weeks. That was quite an experience, although having photographed necropsies in the past got me past any gag reflexes that might have challenged someone new to documenting medical procedures.

My newest hobby is astrophotography, which is a rather complex combination of image taking as well a post-processing.

I am able to say that I have yet to do any photography using an electron microscope. If I am ever given the opportunity, I would like to do some "density slicing" using various exposures on 4x5 inch film and then adding psudo coloring to each of the different densities.

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R.G. wrote:

To increase our chances of catching a serendipitous moment, the best preparation is being ready to pounce at an unexpected moment. We can't plan for unexpected moments the same way we can plan for decisive moments, but we can try to be ready for them.

Serendipity may last only a moment, like the decisive moment that lasts for barely a blink. Or it may linger briefly, sometimes long enuf to get a variation or two or three ... but then its gone forever.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

R.G. wrote:

The Serendipitous Moment could have been written alongside The Decisive Moment. The Serendipitous Moment would be more about anticipating the unexpected.

The old chestnut "F-8 and be there" is true so far as it goes. You also have to know that you are "there" and have a clue about to do with what you have with you. I guess that is true in other areas of life.