Chance favors the prepared mind……..

Getting ready to go on a workshop requires advanced preparation!  In about 9 days I will be flying to Bangor, Maine to help lead a week long workshop and tour through out New England, ending in Acadia National Park.  For this workshop to be successful I must do a number of things, and so will the participants.  This is a good lesson is getting ready to do serious photography, follow along with me:

How to get ready for a workshop or serious photography trip.

1.  Know the area you will be visiting.  Scouting a place for photography can be done in many ways.  Google has made it very easy to amass information about locations in advance.  Another tool I’ve used for many years is Bob Hitchman’s wonderful, Photograph America Newsletter!  Over the years Bob as pre-scouted most of the great places to shoot.  You can order his newsletter or subscribe at  http://www.photographamerica.com/   Of course if you’re taking an organized workshop or tour, the provider is responsible to be sure they have thoroughly scouted for you, but a little research on your own never hurts.  Scouting will help you make sure you find the best spots, at the best time to make those images you hoped to make!

2.  Be sure you are ready for the conditions presented by your time and location.  If you are shooting Denali National Park in Alaska in fall the conditions (temps/weather/light) will be much different than Death Valley National Park in May!  Knowing how to dress, what gear to carry and when the light will be best will be a huge factor in your photographic success, after all it’s hard to compose and image when you’re freezing!  Gear is also important.  Having enough, but not too much is a key.  A 70 pound camera back pack filled with everything you own will be less productive in the field than 25 lbs. of carefully selected lenses ands accessories.  In New England for instance, your 600 f4 will not be nearly as useful as it would be in Yellowstone photographing Elk.  Anything that is a burden to carry will become and boat anchor if you can’t identify a strong. specific need for it.  Often when walking around, less is more.  Check out my article in this section:  Gear For Field Work

3.  Get into the mindset of what you will be photographing.  Some locations like Arches National Park present you with massive, obvious photographic opportunities.  Courthouse Rock is kind of hard to miss and figuring out how to capture it requires nothing much more than the right sky and the right position to shoot from.   A forest of fall color like we will see in New England is quite different.  Fall foliage images sin New England are a lot more about the “intimate landscape”  If you get a chance, watch my teaching program on the intimate landscape on www.kelbytraining.com   The intimate landscape requires a more exercised vision, looking beyond the obvious.  It’s the process of “extracting” the most appealing part of the subject.  For me it is a more relaxed kind of shooting, it takes time.  As my dear friend and fellow photography instructor often says, “take 80% of your time searching for the subject and light, 20% of your time actually making the image……”  That’s good advice, take your time, and look closely, then you will discover a wealth of great subject matter.  Focus locally, instead of globally.

4.  Consider and enjoy the history.  This is an area where a little historical research can pay big dividends.  The signicance of a church or a building, a bridge or a river adds to the photographic interests as well.  In resent years I’ve become very fond of Americana subjects, old historic places, old objects, like rusted cars and trucks, farm implements, old barns and bridges, lighthouses.  All subject that can be seen in abundance in a place like Vermont and New Hampshire.  Don’t pass up those kinds of opportunities and when someone is around that my know the local history take the time to lean of the significance of your subject.  Photography is more than capturing and image, it’s and experience, enjoy the entire process!   www.history.com

5.  Take time to get to know your partners in the adventure.  I shared this story some time ago on this blog but it bears repeating.  Years ago I interviewed the legendary football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for a magazine.  At the end of the interview I asked him what I always felt was a character revealing question, “How do you want to be remembered?”  (Little did I know he would die just three months later.)  Coach Bryant bowed his head and thought for long moment, when he raised it to answer, tears had welled up in his eyes.  He said, “Football has been very good to me, I’ve coach many great players and coached against many great competitors worked with and played against many great coaches, I just hope I’ve been as good a friend to them as they were to me……”  Paul “Bear” Bryant has learned one of life’s greatest lessons, it’s the people.  In anything you do the thing of lasting value will be the wonderful friends and acquaintances.  Long after the awards and accolades are forgotten the friendships will endure.  Anytime you get to go into the field with other photographers, make it a goal to get to know them and enjoy their company, then whether you capture a great image or not, you will go home with somethngn even more valuable, a friend.

6.  Cut yourself some slack, learning to become a great  photographer is a long journey with many pitfalls along the trail.  Allow yourself to not see every great shot, no one does.  Have fun and immerse yourself in the great joy of making images.  Celebrate the great ones, learn from the misses, and observe how those that do it better work, you will soon be standing in their spot along the trail.  Always keep in mind, admire and learn from those ahead of you, and be kind and helpful to those standing where you were, a few years ago, behind you on the trail of learning!  Believe it or not, the more people you help pass you on the trail the greater your joy will become……..

7.   Have fun, if any activity is miserable, take up a new activity!  I’ve watched many young photographers obsess over getting the great shot, so much so that they lost the joy of just being a photographer.  Being a photographer, a real photographer, means you learn to see and feel deeply, experience all the suttleties of being outdoors.  Feel the breeze, hear the babbling brook, hear the bird chirp, watch the grass move in the wind, feel the warmth of the sun on your face.  Going to a new place, to see beautiful things in the company of great people can be one of life’s richest experiences, don’t let anything get in the way of that.  If you flight is late, it won’t matter two hours later, if you drop and break a lens someone will share  with you, if it rains, something will look even better wet!  I know it’s an old saying but trust me, I’m a pilot, “Your attitude will determine your altitude!”    

And just for the record, I don’t believe in chance, but I do believe in preparation…….