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Author Topic: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"  (Read 27300 times)

Isaac

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« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:32:49 pm by Isaac »
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2016, 05:36:47 pm »

Quote
...just wandering around looking for pictures, hoping that something will pop up and announce itself, does not work...

Yes and no.

I research when I can, especially if it involves sunrise/sunset/moonrise or a particular city's viewpoints. Other times, when I do not have the luxury to plan, I do the above.

It starts with me being disappointed with the city or place not "announcing itself," which then turns into being disgusted with myself for being such a lousy photographer, unable to find something that "pops up." And then I start shooting, slowly, and things start popping up, announcing themselves, one by one, here and there, mediocre, lousy, acceptable. I keep shooting, every time getting a bit more of a feeling for the place and what it says to me. And every now and then, that results in some above-average, or even great images. A progress from "looking for pictures in general" to knowing "what you are looking for."

Either way, I keep shooting.

Isaac

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2016, 06:24:57 pm »

!
« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:32:30 pm by Isaac »
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Otto Phocus

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #3 on: March 11, 2016, 06:33:02 am »


“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”
― Thomas Jefferson
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I shoot with a Camera Obscura with an optical device attached that refracts and transmits light.

Chairman Bill

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2016, 06:43:35 am »

I was in the mountains recently, with my camera. The mountains make their own weather, so the forecast is at best tentative, if not completely misleading, but the mountains tend to be in the same place from day-to-day. I wanted photos of & from mountains, so being in the mountains was a good start. We had some weather, and I took photographs of mountains in those particular weather conditions.

So was this shot a matter of luck or planning?

AreBee

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2016, 07:02:23 am »

Chairman Bill,

Quote
...mountains make their own weather, so the forecast is at best tentative, if not completely misleading...

Lake District mountain forecast.

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Chairman Bill

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2016, 07:50:25 am »

And our weather was rather different to the mountain forecast

PeterAit

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2016, 08:47:52 am »

I think that Hurn is way too dogmatic.

To use his example of going to the beach looking specifically for photos of couples showing affection - this may result in more/better photos of that particular subject, but I would find that focusing my perception in that way might mean missing the daffy old lady collecting shells, the rare shorebird, the interesting abstract sand pattern, etc. And when you ask other photographers, there is the very human tendency to attribute one's success to smarts and planning rather than to luck.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2016, 09:41:27 am »

... there is the very human tendency to attribute one's success to smarts and planning rather than to luck.

...and failure to (bad) luck.

Isaac

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2016, 11:59:04 am »

!
« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:32:15 pm by Isaac »
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #10 on: March 11, 2016, 11:59:16 am »

As with any other activity/hobby/profession, I think one needs to acquire a lot experience via practicing and hard work. By being good and proficient at it. Luck has to do with uncertainty; one may be able to reduce by careful planning. If I want to shoot some landscapes or seascapes before sunrise, or during sunrise, it pays off to plan ahead, and check weather forecasts and sunrise tables, for example.

But forecasts are just that, they carry uncertainty. I may have my plan down to the last detail, and then it rains, or the light is crappy, or whatever. Tough luck. Now, if I keep trying and go back day after day to a good location (assuming I can do it), I increase my chances of having a good combination of subject and light, but this has nothing to do with "luck".

Of course, I may go out the very first morning and get all the right conditions; one might say I was "lucky". But still, I had to do my homework, and had to make the effort of being there.

Without hard work and perseverance, one may be "lucky" now and then; but if you work hard and persevere, chances will turn in your favour.

Jeremy Roussak

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #11 on: March 11, 2016, 01:19:57 pm »

So was this shot a matter of luck or planning?

It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time (luck) and having the eye to spot the shot (skill). As Pasteur said, fortune favours the prepared mind.

Jeremy
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Isaac

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2016, 01:32:10 pm »

!
« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:32:02 pm by Isaac »
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Isaac

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #13 on: March 11, 2016, 01:33:00 pm »

!
« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:31:51 pm by Isaac »
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stamper

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #14 on: March 12, 2016, 04:41:07 am »

I think it is possible to be over analytical and become anal? I sometimes fret about what I am going to shoot the next day and where I am going to shoot. This then causes stress and you tend to forget we are, or should be, doing this for pleasure, unless we are getting paid, and the enjoyment isn't the same. Last Monday a last minute decision to climb a hill meant that I got this image and some similar ones that I didn't plan for. The lesson is.... relax and see what fate brings you?

Jeremy Roussak

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #15 on: March 12, 2016, 04:43:57 am »

« … (par hasard, direz-vous peut-être, mais souvenez-vous que dans les champs de l’observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés) … »

What's your point? Do you speak fluent French, Isaac, or is that merely copied and pasted?

Jeremy
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #16 on: March 12, 2016, 09:49:11 am »

... Do you speak fluent French, Isaac, or is that merely copied and pasted?

That seems to be his mother tongue.  ;)

PeterAit

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2016, 10:23:45 am »

Did you read the book? Probably best not to judge from a few quotes :-)

Would those add to any of the projects you are working on?

Based on the q
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PeterAit

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #18 on: March 12, 2016, 10:28:18 am »

Did you read the book? Probably best not to judge from a few quotes :-)

Would those add to any of the projects you are working on?

Based on the quotes I have no interest in reading the book. And, after decades of experience with photography, I have no interest in being told how I should approach my craft.

As for "projects,"  I do not work on projects. I know that some people find it valuable to focus on a specific subject matter for a while, and I have no issue with that - but it's not the way I work.
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Isaac

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Re: "the best photographers are adept at getting luck on their side"
« Reply #19 on: March 12, 2016, 11:51:38 am »

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« Last Edit: March 16, 2016, 10:31:37 pm by Isaac »
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