Candid Portraits,  Documentary/Street,  lifestyles,  People/Portraits,  quotes

You never know….

Approaching Pitkin and Meridian bus stop

Jay Maisel always says to bring your camera, ‘cause it’s tough to take a picture without it. Pursuant to the above aforementioned piece of the rule book, subset three, clause A, paragraph four would be…use the camera. Put it to your eye. You never know. There are lots of reasons, some of them even good, to just leave it on your shoulder or in your bag. Wrong lens. Wrong light. Aaahhh, it’s not that great, what am I gonna do with it anyway? I’ll have to put my coffee down. I’ll just delete it later, why bother? Lots of reasons not to take the dive into the eyepiece and once again try to sort out the world into an effective rectangle. It’s almost always worth it to take a look. – Joe McNally 

Retired. Having fun shooting Fujifilm cameras. Journal daily. Meditate daily. Learning haiku. Have a love for fountain pens.

5 Comments

  • Cedric

    There is no denying that having a camera with you makes it easier to make photos, but I would add that it also allows us to indulge in that serotonin-inducing process of being in a moment. As you know Monte, I don’t tend to keep my photos, with the majority never making it off the SD card, but there is something rather satisfying about lifting up a camera, pointing it at a scene, manipulating a setting or two, composing the frame just so and finally, pressing the shutter just as I let out a breath I’d been unwittingly holding. It’s something I did even when I was shooting film and had shot my last roll, I would still go through this somewhat spellbinding and rather pleasant process.

    • Monte Stevens

      I relate to that experience we can have with a camera. Makes me wish I could sit in some coffee shop with you and look at some of your prints from the past as well as the present.