I sometimes imagine a photo I want. Hoping the elements will bend and flow into expressing the emotion of the experience, I watch movement, patterns, colors, shadows, and highlights, thinking through techniques and styles, waiting for their merger when something appears in my viewfinder.
Backlit, dramatic lighting with deep shadows, slightly underexposed to retain the highlights, using aperture priority, auto exposure, and a wide-angle lens to get the full width and depth of the trees. Then stand and wait as people walk through the scene. Wait as runner’s strides land flatfooted on the bright spot between two trees where I’m waiting for something, someone better, something dynamic, something with power and abandon.
Then, as if emerging from another dimension, the kid on his scooter bursts through the opening, legs flailing, eyes locked ahead, with the reckless joy of a child discovering speed and risk, yet never straying far from the watchful reach of his family.
The merger moment. A moment, called from another dimension, another reality, appeared and then was gone at 1/500th of a second.
My world returned to ordinary with the possibility that my true power lay in summoning a more photogenic, more unified moment. A deliberate flow of elements shaped into a single, flawless dimension. A dimension where, for one brief slice of time, everything aligns. Perfect for a photograph.
If that’s my talent, I’ll take it.
Below are photos from a Summer Concert Series at the Alum Creek Amphitheater showing how another dimension may be the possibility for my success. A success shared with paid subscribers.
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