Shawnigan Lake School - finding the perfect angle.


Have you ever found a delightful scene that you wanted to photograph and snapped an image of it without putting much thought or effort into it?  I know I have, and I suspect that most others would repeat that procedure ad nauseam without hoping to capture a better shot.  Most of the time people take a picture because they want a record of where they were, what they saw, and who they were with.  

Photography, for those interested, can be about recording information but it can also be about doing the best you can with the medium at your disposal.  It becomes about making the best photo you can with the time, knowledge, and equipment currently available.  Looking at photos others make can be somewhat depressing in that so many of them are better than anything I can produce.  Often it is because they have the time, knowledge, and equipment that allows them to do that.  BUT, and this is important, it is not about getting the best shot overall, it's about doing the best you can given your immediate circumstances.

I have, on occasion, captured an image or two that outdoes every photograph ever taken by me.  As rare and fulfilling as those extraordinary moments are, they do not define my purpose for shooting pictures in the first place.  I enjoy photography and the opportunity to be outdoors to capture the beauty before me.  If I am rewarded with a great shot, fine, if not, I have had the pleasure of doing something I enjoy in a place that I love.  What more could one ask for?

When faced with an interesting subject, I often ask myself how can I best capture it.  What camera settings, lens settings, position relative to the subject, and aspects of natural and artificial light do I consider?  I can honestly say that rarely do I ever take just one photo and hope it to be the best I could achieve.  Rather, I shoot many frames, each altering the variables according to intuition and desire.  Above are three images I took of the private school; I took many more than that.  These three were the best of the bunch; I like the top one the most.

Different circumstances such as time of day or year, weather, and the presence of desirable or undesirable people and appurtenances, the results would vary.  Although I could improve the shots, it really was all about embracing the moment.  What can I do NOW?  I just have to be happy with being where I was, who I was with, and what I got to experience.  I got a couple of nice shots off.  But that wasn't the best part of it all.  I had a good time with a friend, photos aside.  And that is more important than any photo will ever be.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com

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