Interpreting the Moment...Photographically

 Sometimes nature simply does not cooperate. All the planning and anticipation that goes into a photoshoot, at times, simply becomes obsolete when nature fails to live up to our expectations. Moments like these will challenge even the best photographer, yet moments such as these are what often presents a new and challenging interpretation opportunity of what nature does offer to the photographer.

One one such encounter nature threw a wild curveball at me. I was wanting to photograph one of those legendary prairie sunrises on the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve located just north of the small town of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. This preserve is by far my favorite place to photograph as it offers such a wide variety of opportunities plus it stands as one of the last remaining large tracts ( almost 40,000 acres) of original tallgrass prairie still in existence. Unfortunately, my time was limited and the weather turned stormy the night before which carried well into the morning. I made the drive anyway hoping the clouds just might part enough at sunrise to offer a chance at a photograph.

Well, they didn't. The morning sky was a solid gray wall with barely a sign of texture. The rain had subsided some, but it was still spitting light sprinkles and everything was wet. To make matters worse, that Oklahoma Prairie wind was whipping across the plains. The location I had picked out ahead of time turned out to be rather bland. I sat up my tripod anyway and waited for the appointed sunrise time that came and went with nary a hint of it happening. That wind just kept on blowing the prairie grass back and forth. In front of me a single tall Wild White Indigo plant leaned over heavily in the wind. Several minutes after official sunrise, I noticed a warm glow burning through the thick overcast. It was faint but continued to slowly grow in intensity.

As minimal as it was, this was my opportunity and I had to quickly reinterpret the situation. I moved the tripod over hoping to align the Indigo plant with the growing bullseye glow just above the horizon. The wind kept the plant leaning too far over for a photo. I held my breath...and waited. The glow began to subside and a few seconds before it disappeared, the wind died and the Indigo plant popped back upright and I fired off a couple of quick shots. The image shown above was the result. To this day, it remains one of my favorite Tallgrass Prairie images.

Interpreting the moment is what a nature photographer must know how to instinctively do. Conditions change so rapidly, you must evaluate the opportunity quickly and make a decision. It takes an eye for detail and for compositional elements. 

On most occasions, snap decisions are not required, but, interpreting the moment still applies. Interpretation is the operative word. Simple duplication of what you see does not work very well most times. It requires a solid grasp of how your camera responds to any given source of light and how to change the settings to obtain the desired effect. Your interpretation of the moment does not always have to be a xerox copy image of what you see., but it does offer the ability to visualize the possible outcome based on the light. Light then, is the key. Finding it, seeing it, locking onto it, and using it to interpret the mood you are wanting to capture is what separates ordinary picture takers from someone who captures moments that stir the imagination.

If you are photographing something simply because it looks nice or is pretty, then chances are your photo will fall short and only show the surface of the moment. But by observing more deeply into the light you can capture the total depth and vibrancy of what the light reveals and consequently whatever it is you are photographing.

It takes a willingness to endure the difficult requirements to find such moments. Things like rising well before sunrise, or braving cold and raining or snowy weather. Sometimes you have to develop a sixth sense and simply know when the conditions are prone to be good, and sometimes you must anticipate the possibilities and return again and again and again before the moment presents itself. The last photo is one such moment. To capture it required three months of effort and at least four return trips, three of which failed, before the interpretation of the moment for this location finally made itself evident.

Interpreting the Moment; it is an aspect of photography that requires time to develop, yet one that is indispensable to move beyond simple duplication of what you see and creating images that stir the soul.