Have you ever paged through your catalog of photos and come across a photo that captures your attention, and then you think, “I should photograph more images like that one?”
This article really made me think about how I take photographs. I hope you are successful in your challenge and I’m going to attempt the same challenge for my upcoming trips to Northern Wisconsin ( Fifield Wisconsin). I hope you have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing your detail/ smaller shots.
There truly are two photographs not taken that never will be.
Photo not taken #1 - We were returning from a week-long camping trip at Cascade River State Park in Minnesota, on a beautiful Sunday morning, blue sky, breeze off of Lake Superior,
perfect day, probably in the mid-1990’s. This was in the days of film photography before digital, and you had only x number of pictures on a roll of film, usually 24-36. We were cruising down Highway 61, approaching Taconite Harbor near Schroeder, Minnesota, when I saw a train parked on an overpass, waiting to deliver its load to a waiting ore carrier. This was no ordinary train for railfans, it was a full set of four LTV Mining Railroad locomotives pulling a string of taconite ore cars that stretched up the hill beyond sight. The sun was shining on the brightly colored locomotives, and I literally pulled the car to the shoulder to look at it. I had no film, having used my last shot sometime the day before. I pondered for a while what to do: shrug it off and go on, or turn around, go back to a little general store back up Hwy 61 and pay an exorbitant amount for a roll of film, and take the chance that the train would still be sitting there when we got back. No one else in the car was in the mood for option 2, everyone just wanted to get home. So, outnumbered (although I think I could have cajoled enough voters to my side) we pulled back on the highway and I drove unusually slowly past that train, hoping that maybe on one of our next trips to the North Shore I might be as lucky. What made any likelihood of this picture ever being taken after that day was the fact that in 1997, those 4 locomotives lost their brakes coming down the grade into the harbor and derailed, wrecking the locomotives beyond repair. When I heard the news, my heart just sank, not because I felt bad for the railroad but because I knew it was the end of an era.
Photo not taken #2 - We were winding up our 10-day vacation in France in June 2007. It was the night before we were to catch a train from Avignon to Paris to fly home. We were walking around the town square in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence on a warm summer evening, taking in the atmosphere and becoming melancholy about our trip’s impending end. We decided to get an ice cream cone and just hang around the square, taking it all in. As we came up to the ice cream stand, there were two elderly women, at least one likely a grandmother, with three little girls around 6 years old, each getting an ice cream cone. As soon as they all had their cones, the girls sat together in a line on a park bench and giggled and tittered in French, enjoying their ice cream. I only had space on the camera card in my (now digital) camera for a few shots. I thought of surreptitiously taking a shot (“street photography” they call it now) but didn’t want to seem like an inconsiderate (“ugly”) American. I had absolutely no idea how to ask (the grandmothers) in French if I could take the girls picture, and after a brief consultation with my wife I abandoned the shot. But to this day, I can visualize the image: three little girls on a park bench in the early evening, protected from the setting sun by large shade trees, loving their ice cream, being casually but constantly watched over by their grandmothers as the world
goes about winding down for the day. That moment in time is truly irreplaceable.
This post really resonated with me. The tight shot is another way of slowing down and appreciating (and finding ways to feel just as fulfilled) with the simple things in life. The fascinating flora and fauna of our surroundings or even some of the interesting man-made
Details sometimes. The orb weavers at the cabin are something I have enjoyed -- perhaps I need a macro lens and dust off the DSLR!!
Great essay. I struggle to capture this style of shot. You might want to consider a workshop focused on these abstract or tight shots. How to look, what catches your eye, applying the visual element concepts (lines, shapes, triangles, etc.) to our observations.
It’s true for me. I think it’s easy to get enamored with great locations snd girget to even look around us in familiar places. Do much to explore around my neck of woods!
This article really made me think about how I take photographs. I hope you are successful in your challenge and I’m going to attempt the same challenge for my upcoming trips to Northern Wisconsin ( Fifield Wisconsin). I hope you have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing your detail/ smaller shots.
Warning - long comment:
There truly are two photographs not taken that never will be.
Photo not taken #1 - We were returning from a week-long camping trip at Cascade River State Park in Minnesota, on a beautiful Sunday morning, blue sky, breeze off of Lake Superior,
perfect day, probably in the mid-1990’s. This was in the days of film photography before digital, and you had only x number of pictures on a roll of film, usually 24-36. We were cruising down Highway 61, approaching Taconite Harbor near Schroeder, Minnesota, when I saw a train parked on an overpass, waiting to deliver its load to a waiting ore carrier. This was no ordinary train for railfans, it was a full set of four LTV Mining Railroad locomotives pulling a string of taconite ore cars that stretched up the hill beyond sight. The sun was shining on the brightly colored locomotives, and I literally pulled the car to the shoulder to look at it. I had no film, having used my last shot sometime the day before. I pondered for a while what to do: shrug it off and go on, or turn around, go back to a little general store back up Hwy 61 and pay an exorbitant amount for a roll of film, and take the chance that the train would still be sitting there when we got back. No one else in the car was in the mood for option 2, everyone just wanted to get home. So, outnumbered (although I think I could have cajoled enough voters to my side) we pulled back on the highway and I drove unusually slowly past that train, hoping that maybe on one of our next trips to the North Shore I might be as lucky. What made any likelihood of this picture ever being taken after that day was the fact that in 1997, those 4 locomotives lost their brakes coming down the grade into the harbor and derailed, wrecking the locomotives beyond repair. When I heard the news, my heart just sank, not because I felt bad for the railroad but because I knew it was the end of an era.
Photo not taken #2 - We were winding up our 10-day vacation in France in June 2007. It was the night before we were to catch a train from Avignon to Paris to fly home. We were walking around the town square in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence on a warm summer evening, taking in the atmosphere and becoming melancholy about our trip’s impending end. We decided to get an ice cream cone and just hang around the square, taking it all in. As we came up to the ice cream stand, there were two elderly women, at least one likely a grandmother, with three little girls around 6 years old, each getting an ice cream cone. As soon as they all had their cones, the girls sat together in a line on a park bench and giggled and tittered in French, enjoying their ice cream. I only had space on the camera card in my (now digital) camera for a few shots. I thought of surreptitiously taking a shot (“street photography” they call it now) but didn’t want to seem like an inconsiderate (“ugly”) American. I had absolutely no idea how to ask (the grandmothers) in French if I could take the girls picture, and after a brief consultation with my wife I abandoned the shot. But to this day, I can visualize the image: three little girls on a park bench in the early evening, protected from the setting sun by large shade trees, loving their ice cream, being casually but constantly watched over by their grandmothers as the world
goes about winding down for the day. That moment in time is truly irreplaceable.
*have
These are the photos I usually take. Because I gave my IPhone with me.
Great article and reminder Bryan, thanks!
This post really resonated with me. The tight shot is another way of slowing down and appreciating (and finding ways to feel just as fulfilled) with the simple things in life. The fascinating flora and fauna of our surroundings or even some of the interesting man-made
Details sometimes. The orb weavers at the cabin are something I have enjoyed -- perhaps I need a macro lens and dust off the DSLR!!
Great essay. I struggle to capture this style of shot. You might want to consider a workshop focused on these abstract or tight shots. How to look, what catches your eye, applying the visual element concepts (lines, shapes, triangles, etc.) to our observations.
It’s true for me. I think it’s easy to get enamored with great locations snd girget to even look around us in familiar places. Do much to explore around my neck of woods!