âLuck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.â – Seneca
I’ve found this to be especially true in photography.
The photography of the sunset above was taken from the balcony of our room on board the Norwegian Pearl while docked at Juneau, Alaska. I’d made a mental note earlier in the afternoon that the sun would be setting over the harbor and that our balcony had a wonderful unobstructed view.
As evening approached I positioned myself and my camera gear on the balcony hoping for a nice sunset, I was prepared.
The sailboat in this shot was pure opportunity with timing better then I could have arranged.
My preparation and this opportunity created this “lucky” shot.
Now that would be wonderful in itself if it was all of the story, but a few minutes after this small sail boat passed, the passenger liner “Emerald Princess” begin backing away from her docking beside us.
I feared the timing of her departure would ruin an opportunity for an unobstructed sunset photograph but again I was prepared to make the best of whatever opportunities presented themselves. That’s when I took this second “lucky” shot above.
Two unique shots of the same sunset, I was overjoyed. But opportunity wasn’t finished with me yet.
The “Emerald Princess” began moving out of the Juneau harbor, directly between the Norwegian Pearl and the setting sun. For just a few opportunistic moments her bridge and upper viewing deck were silhouetted…with my lens at 200mm, lucky shot number three.
I also managed a number of photos of the unobstructed sunset. ;-)
Were some of these lucky shots? Yes, but I’ll always claim I was prepared to be lucky, and the opportunities took care of the rest.
Do you approach photography prepared to be lucky?
Yes! Yes! Yes! I have twisted that saying a bit and say that “luck” is found at the intersection of preparedness and opportunity. I have a number of lucky shots myself. I figure that it’s simply a matter of quantity, the number of times that I show up, and activity, what happens that I see when I’m there.
All of the shots are wonderful. I still follow Craig Tanner’s mantra: Productivity = Creativity! If you go out and shoot every day, for sure you are going to get ‘lucky’ a lot more than someone else who does it once/week or once/month.
Thanks, Paul. I totally agree with you and Craig.
You’re never going to get that great shot if you’re not out there with your camera.
I found each batch of photos I bring back has lessons to teach. I’m always looking at what I did and the results, thinking…next time.