Slow Photography #71 Lucky Shot?
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"Gotta Go", Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 2015. Ektar 100 Film, Nikon n90s. |
" A good photograph is a happy accident—
if you qualify the statement by saying that the greater the artist,
the oftener the accident happens."
( after Charles Hawthorne)
A fire hydrant and a dog. In the middle ground, a carriage rolls and hoofs its way to Lincoln street. People are sitting outside the Shop on The Corner, under a marine mural with its wide-eyes octopus, friendly skin diver and cavorting whale. Making the picture involved four kinds of luck.
if you qualify the statement by saying that the greater the artist,
the oftener the accident happens."
( after Charles Hawthorne)
A fire hydrant and a dog. In the middle ground, a carriage rolls and hoofs its way to Lincoln street. People are sitting outside the Shop on The Corner, under a marine mural with its wide-eyes octopus, friendly skin diver and cavorting whale. Making the picture involved four kinds of luck.
A LUCKY SHOT
When we say "that's a lucky shot", we rarely mean to praise a photograph.
We really mean that blind luck made the picture happen. This underestimates the photographer. As photographers, we can create other kinds of luck than BLIND LUCK 1.These happen when we have removed the blinders, and have practiced and honed our craft.
Calling a photograph a lucky shot suggests it is only BLIND LUCK 1. Yet, there are three more kinds of luck. We can use these for Slow Photography.
We really mean that blind luck made the picture happen. This underestimates the photographer. As photographers, we can create other kinds of luck than BLIND LUCK 1.These happen when we have removed the blinders, and have practiced and honed our craft.
Calling a photograph a lucky shot suggests it is only BLIND LUCK 1. Yet, there are three more kinds of luck. We can use these for Slow Photography.
Getting out and moving around town opened up possibilities for MOVING LUCK 2. This is the vital concept that luck favors those in motion. When you wander, without a goal, fortunate events will occur because you've energized your process.
My framing habits, choice of film, position and timing all went into READY LUCK 3, the idea from Louis Pasteur, the inventor of pasturization, that chance favors only the prepared mind.
I'd loaded film, mounted a wide angle prime lens on a Minolta XE7 film camera, and headed out to explore around Lunenburg. Kneeling down to get closer to the street and foreground, I included a hydrant that I had walked by earlier, saw a couple a half block away walking their dog, framed the scene with the mural in the background, and waited for the horse carriage to into the frame. Just as their dog appeared in the frame, the pet owners saw me and tried to politely move our of my frame, but I photographed as the dog was near the hydrant. My habits prepared my mind to make an image.
I'd loaded film, mounted a wide angle prime lens on a Minolta XE7 film camera, and headed out to explore around Lunenburg. Kneeling down to get closer to the street and foreground, I included a hydrant that I had walked by earlier, saw a couple a half block away walking their dog, framed the scene with the mural in the background, and waited for the horse carriage to into the frame. Just as their dog appeared in the frame, the pet owners saw me and tried to politely move our of my frame, but I photographed as the dog was near the hydrant. My habits prepared my mind to make an image.
Because you have distinct habits (often kneeling down, lower to the ground when you frame) and a unique lifestyle, certain hobbies or those activities that are distinctly your own, you bring things about. Chance can work for you through your individuality. This kind of luck I call JUST YOUR LUCK 4. Chance can be on just our side, when we pursue individualized and personal hobbies and passions.
Truthfully, the first kind of luck, BLIND LUCK 1, really did occur twice: The red color of the dog's leash color matched the carriage wheels and the hydrant. The coachman's black and white clothing matched that worn by the dog.
Truthfully, the first kind of luck, BLIND LUCK 1, really did occur twice: The red color of the dog's leash color matched the carriage wheels and the hydrant. The coachman's black and white clothing matched that worn by the dog.
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* James H. Austin MD defined the four Varieties of Chance in his book Chase, Chance and Creativity: The Lucky Art of Novelty, p. 77, MIT Press. His writings and discoveries in medicine have informed my views of chance, as he outlines 4 varieties of chance, Chance I, II, III and IV. He is my father.
Jeff Widener described his photograph of the Tiananmen Square "tank man" as a lucky shot, but on closer examination of his story, 3 other kinds of luck were involved. http://petapixel.com/2013/06/21/a-conversation-with-jeff-widener/
Jeff Widener described his photograph of the Tiananmen Square "tank man" as a lucky shot, but on closer examination of his story, 3 other kinds of luck were involved. http://petapixel.com/2013/06/21/a-conversation-with-jeff-widener/
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