Utensils on a grill — Mons, Belgium (2016)
How many times have you heard people tell you to “go with your gut feeling”? I don’t know if that American slang translates well into other languages, but basically it means that you should go with your initial instinct.
In photography, it’s important to go ahead and snap a photo instantly when you see something that interests you. Maybe it’s an interesting way a person is standing or an interesting shadow or maybe it’s just an interesting way the world has arranged itself in front of you.
Sometimes, what instantly draws you subconsciously to a scene or subject makes for a fascinating picture. Most professional photographers take that instant shot and then take many more pictures to refine the image. This technique is great for some, but I’ve noticed that for my photography, the instantaneous gut reaction I have generally tends to yield the best picture for me. The additional pictures I take of the scene or subject rarely produce any substantial improvements to my gut reaction shot.
The photograph above was taken on my patio. It was an overcast, rainy day and I was getting bored watching TV so I picked up my camera and went outside. I really liked the lighting on my grill and the grilling utensils so I made a quick picture.
Over the course of the next hour, I went back (with my daughter’s help) to make many more shots of the exact same subject. I altered the angle of my camera; I altered the depth of field; I even brought out reflectors to add some light into the shadow areas.
Ultimately, I realized that the original, gut reaction shot was the best. I love the angles and dark “crustyness” of the whole image. The other images, though perhaps technically better, lacked the raw emotion in the original shot. My original shot had a certain je ne sais quoi which still intrigues me, months after I made the shot.
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar in your photographs.
So when life presents you with an interesting subject, make your picture right away without thinking too much. The moment you allow your “logical mind” to compose your image is the moment where the raw emotion of your picture vanishes.