Capturing Moments means Paying Attention

I’ve finally been getting to my backlog of digital files to process and have found a few of them fun to work with in Photoshop!

After reading Jim Zuckerman’s posts about Italy, I’m salivating over the the thought of cappuccino's and morning light spilling across the wonderful stone walls of authentic villages, of sunrise through the lamps of Piazza San Marco in Venice. There’s one space left on my tour for May, if anyone’s interested!

I don’t consider myself a photojournalist by career, yet I had training to be one many years ago, and that training has been so useful in other areas of photography. Studying, through workshops and classes, to become an expert at observation meant I had to be present while walking around town, in a village, on a boat, bus or subway train. It meant I couldn’t “zone” out and ignore the world around me. If I had any hope of capturing life’s funny or poignant moments, I learned I had better pay attention. That means not walking around with a Walkman, Ipod or cell phone attached to my ears all the time, too.

Today, as a travel photographer, that skill of learning to be observant has helped me photograph many interesting moments - moments that tell a story, that make you wonder, laugh, cry or smile.

That same training has helped me observe animal behavior and to be ready to capture moments with them, too. They don't have to be high-action moments, either. Sometimes just coming upon a simple scene of a cat perfectly positioned between the railings is enough to make a nice picture.

So if I learned only one thing from that early training, (and I really learned more) it was to pay attention - to everything around me; to watch the light, the action amongst people, the gestures of individuals, of animals. All of these things will provide a plethora of pictures if you're watching for them.

Comments

[Sham]

Your pictures inspire me!!! I stumbled upon your site while looking for some tips on how to capture the moon on my compact digital camera. By the way, I am new at photography (before this I just snap pictures at random, which doesn't count!)