Shooting With a Game Plan

On one of my first model location shoots I showed up at the location not having a clue of what I was going to do photographically. "I'll just wing it..." I told myself. The results were, well...predictable. The images looked rather ordinary and snapshotish at best. Winging it can at times produce some wonderful results, but that usually happens only after you apply lessons learned from previous shoots using a game plan. As I continued to develop my location shooting skills it became apparent how having a game plan of what I wanted to accomplish was an important element to help me focus my efforts on a particular theme.

A good photographer friend of mine seems to do this naturally without effort. At times it appears he is winging it, and maybe there is an element of that in his technique, but his approach is one of mentally breaking down the shoot into manageable photographic steps, tweaking the moment just enough until what he is visualizing suddenly appears in front of him and then he captures it. He has a knack for identifying the artistic elements of what is truly there and then being able to bring the moment to life. I've learned a great deal simply observing him as he works.

Shooting with a game plan involves several things. First of all, you must have an instinctive command of your equipment. Being able to know how your camera is going to react to a given lighting situation is key as it gives you the ability to make exposure adjustments on the fly without too much thinking about it. Understanding exposure in general is a must. Always shooting on program mode handicaps your ability to use creative instincts. Also, understanding exposure using artificial lighting...speedlights...is without a doubt one of the most important elements of your game plan. Speedlights give you the ability to control different planes of light at the same time. Understanding how to apply this gives you a powerful advantage. Also, test your equipment. I once did a shoot that required several speedlights where three of them were placed some distance from the camera transmitter. Turned out the transmitter would not reach that far and I struggled to get the shot, initially. However understanding how the lights worked, I was able shift them from being fired directly to being fired as slave units trigger by the flash of another another unit which solved my problem. So understanding your equipment and its limitations is an important aspect of implementing a game plan.

Secondly, having a game plan gives you a place to start. You know from the beginning what you want to accomplish even though the steps to get there may not be readily apparent. Every shoot is different in their dynamics. The lighting is different, the setting, the model, the angles, the energy, in short you the photographer must be able to adapt to your surroundings. Your game plan provides you with an idea, a direction in which to travel. It becomes your shooting roadmap without which it might become easy to get lost or sidetracked. Also, remember the best laid plans do not always go according to the plan, so be willing to adjust your game plan. Even though some of my most successful photographs are the result of having a plan in place, the idea did not always fit the actual live situation.

Thirdly, your game plan should include knowing the location. Ask yourself a few questions. What direction will the light be coming from at any given time of day? Are there shaded areas or high contrast areas? Are there background distractions? Will I need overcast skies or sunny skies? Will this be better late or early in the day? How easy is it to setup...is there a hike involved and if so how do I get my equipment in there? What equipment will I need? What is the most dramatic angle? And, most importantly, what am I trying to accomplish...what will my finished photograph become? I will spend a great deal of time simply searching for locations and then make mental and sometimes physical notes about the location and how it might be used in a shoot. One thing to keep in mind, a game plan will work regardless of the purpose be it a high school senior location shoot, a wedding, or a shoot focused on capturing a single specific type of look or photograph.

Shooting with a game plan helps you to become more efficient in the field. During many of my earliest attempts of shooting a model on location I struggled to find a focused effort and wasted a lot of time. In reality I did not know what I was doing and jumped around trying this and that and ended up with photographs that looked like this and that. During the times I have observed my friend during his shoots, it became apparent at just how efficient he was. Move here, move there, this angle, this lens, this light. He seemed so in command of what he was doing. It is a trait I wish to emulate. Many times I tend to attach a lens and stay with it throughout the shoot when I should have changed lenses a time or two to obtain a different look. Be willing to make strategic changes during your shoot if for no other reason just to see what happens. You can always go back to what you were doing.

A game plan can apply to other types of shooting. Take for instance this photo of a beautifully restored 1976 Corvette in front of the National Corvette Museum. Having a plan in place, knowing the location, using speedlights, then adapting to the situation allowed for a really fun shoot of an iconic car and location.

Lastly, stay within your style of shooting, but experiment with new techniques and styles. Avoid growing stale by not doing the same ole thing the same ole way all the time. All of us can learn from others, but all of us tend to migrate toward a comfortable style. It is perfectly normal to do so, but do not be afraid to try something new...step out on the edge every now and then and spread your photographic wings. That is the only way you will grow.

Having a game plan helps you in so many ways, getting started can often be the most difficult part of the process. To avoid always falling into the I'll wing it trap, start to develop your game plan by saying to yourself, "This is what I want to accomplish...now how do I get there?"...then, go out and do it.

Using Light as an Artistic Tool

All of us take light for granted. Even though it surrounds us and permeates our lives with a myriad of flavors
and colors, it seems so common, so ordinary and everyday, we simply choose to overlook its influence. In spite of it being such an important element in our lives, we often look past it simply because it is always there. However, as a photographer Light is the most important element in our craft. I am always conscious of the effects of light even when I am not carrying a camera. I not only see it, I observe it, I watch it closely, I recognize those special moments when by itself, it becomes the subject of what I am looking at. Over the years this awareness of light evolved into a conscious understanding of its nature and how its nature can be used as a photographic tool.

Many years ago I spent a good amount of time developing my artistic flair...I drew pictures of people and places. During that time I did a lot of reading about art and artists and before long it became evident how the great artists understood the use of light...and more importantly how they used the absence of light to create depth and character. In time as my artistic drive shifted more toward photography, this revelation about light has served me well. Light then simply became another tool of an artistic trade.

Light can be used as a tool in many ways; it can be directed, toned down, brightened, softened, blended, recolored, and used from different directions at the same time. It can create shadows to create character. It can be directed to fill in the small spaces where not enough light exists or it can be blocked to create a darker moodier tone. It can bring life to an otherwise dull composition. It can be accumulated or subtracted. In short, light is perhaps your most important and versatile photographic tool simply because it is so versatile.

Take this photograph I call The Pilot. Several phases and planes of light were used in creating this image. The ambient background light, all natural in its flavor, created the overall mood of the image. From that, I added some fill lights to illuminate the airplane hanger and the pilot.

All three of these light planes were of different intensities, yet when blended together the impression of the light creates an interesting result. Light then was used to sculpt the final image and bring to life three separate compositional elements; the hanger with the airplanes, the background sky setting, and the pilot. Light became the chisel used to carve out the depth and character of the portrait.

Light is unique in that it alone can create shadows or it can provide full illumination. By changing the angle and the direction of the light along with its intensity, you can create soft or harsh shadows or highlights. Depending on the mood of the image, light is used as element connectors to bring the composition together not unlike nails or screws are used to connect separate pieces of materials.

There are times we can take light and use it to create order within what might otherwise be an ordinary composition. Flat and dull light will often create a flat and dull image that exhibits no real quality, only a sense of chaotic jumbleness. But, throw on some extra light, change its angle, and alter its intensity above or below the ambient light, and you can isolate what is truly important and separate it from the chaos of what surrounds it.

When attempting to build an interesting composition, regardless of what it is, the first thing I evaluate is the light. Even if all the elements line up correctly but the light is wrong, it just will not work. But, when you approach your photography using the idea that light is another tool you can use to build your image, it changes how you visualize your final image. Light is a powerful tool and when used creatively helps you to build not only amazing images, but a powerful vision.

Musical Waters

Rest alone is not always enough of what we need to recover from the challenges life throws at us. Sometimes we need more, something richer, something deeper, something that helps us rediscover who we are, a place to go for repairs to damages hidden inside. As life catches up with us, we look for a special moment to help us along, something subtlety powerful to carry us a bit further down the path toward recovery. Anxious moments, uncertainty, bruised emotions, sometimes a claustrophobic feeling of being trapped with few escape options can weigh like a fearsome burden on a mind and body and cause us to withdraw dwindling emotional funds from our inner bank.

No one is immune from such things. As sleep resisted me and simple resting fell well short of what was required to remove the ghostly fatigue that hovered over me, my soul cried for something more, so...I went fishing.

The late September day proved unseasonably warm with mid-day Indian Summer temperatures hovering near 90 degrees. The first hints of fall tossed out their clues of what will come with a splash of color here and there.  A cobalt blue sky spread its wrap above the landscape and a few summer clouds suspended themselves like patches of white sewn onto the outside of a new blue dress. I slipped into the parking area just off the road...no other vehicles, good, I was alone, with no camera, just my small collection of spinners, fishing rod, and the musical waters of Trammel Creek.

At first I just stood next to the waters edge taking in the clean air and listening to the song of the creek. The first step I made into the cold waters quickly filled my old tenny's and sent a chill through me but it was a refreshing reprisal from the warmth of the day. Flowing clear and clean around my legs the current spun and rolled its way down stream in its perpetual motion, twisting and swirling, seemingly happy with its purpose in life as it flowed around obstacles. I wished I could as easily flow around obstacles. As the first cast was signaled by the whirl of the fishing line and a gentle plop of the lure next to a stretch of deeper water, I sighed in relief asking myself where the summer had gone.

Moving here and then there, casting across and through the waters I lost myself amongst the luxury of fishing, not caring if, not even anticipating the strike of a trout. I was simply being there away from everything else, at least for a while. It was a fine and pleasant moment, almost dream like, listening to the lively song of the waters as they careened and cheered, before tumbling over the shallows with a sparkle of reflected light to fill the deeper pools in a choreographed chaos.

Time easily loses itself like a drifting fog around musical waters, and so it was on this day. With dozens of casts tossed into slow moving pools or across faster moving swirls, time indeed seemed insignificant and a full hour passed with barely a notice. During a long wade down stream to that 'other fishy spot', I saw them, the trout, swimming lazily in their blissful home pools, yet they seemed unaware of and certainly less interested in what I offered to them as bait. Didn't matter...just knowing they were there was reward enough.

Eventually, I returned upstream and found a small grassy clump where I could sit in the cool of a shade. Ten yards to either side of me flowed a crystal clear set of riffles keeping time with the sounds of the day. Overhead a majestic hawk surveyed the fields, banking and gliding with little or no effort. With barely a flap he caught a rising air current and soared up and over the ridge dominating the western edge of the creek, and was gone. Down stream there was a chatter, a blur of movement, then a splash. I turned to see ole Mr. Kingfisher launch himself back into the air, this time carrying a meal in his beak.

The fishing was slow, so as I sat in the shade, I lowered the rod and simply listened to the natural quiet. Sometimes we need quiet in our day as a counter balance to all the cluttering noise that infiltrates our lives. Sometimes quiet is uncomfortable, at first, because our usual daily thoughts and actions tend to become inflamed by all the rhetoric and nonsensical kinds of noise we allow to distract us, so much so to where quietness seems foreign. All that noise and clutter causes us to deplete the value of who we are and we often find outselves poor of spirit and even poor of hope as a result. Yet, quiet is what we need more often than we allow for ourselves. How easily we forget.

Quiet and stillness is a powerful healer of the sorrowful anxieties that draw us ever closer to the edge of depression. We resist such things, being drawn into emotional states that hold us down, even so, on this day, I gladly allowed my thoughts to find comfort from the song played by the musical waters of this little dancing brook. In the process I became a musical waters millionaire, refreshed, ready to rejoin the world again, at least for a while.

Like the old Jeep, I still need a few more repairs, yet, the more-than-rest I searched for spoke clearly to me on this day when the fishing was slow, because as I have previously discovered and what was once again made abundantly clear...musical waters offer so much more...than catching fish.