Setting the goal

Amazonia Sunset


I attended a talk by Rick Sammon sponsored by Nevada Camera Club last Friday.

He talked about setting goals when taking the shot. This lesson could have been handy many times during my travels. When I went to the Amazon, I had that ideal picture of the great river, although much of my expectations of the river were viewed from Nature shows I have seen in PBS and never really had a goal how this picture can be captured.

But Rick made a very good point. Setting goals is a normal undertaking in everything that I have accomplished, and it cannot be different as taking a picture.

Rick said that when he went to Mongolia to watch the annual warrior show, he had this picture of a mongol warrior on a horse galloping on air with all four hoofs afloat. That was his ideal picture, that is what he came for in Mongolia. He planned the shot before he went there. Where he will position himself, the camera settings, and the output.

Well, actual events can take a life on its own. Then, there was the overcast weather, or that a luggage was lost. What to do? You still stick to the plan.

The main lesson I got from this talk, is that, when I plan a shot, I can replicate it. If I have a similar subject, environment, mood I want to capture, I can start from the original plan and improve from there. It is replicable and flexible and it will serve as the basis of a signature shot.

I hope to create my own signature shot and my specialty, and a planned shot with copious note-taking can be a tool in my toolbox.

Ahhhh.... we learn something new everyday.

Life is sweet, it is an adventure, a journey, a discovery..