“When gifts are given to me through my camera, I accept them graciously.”
– Minor White
On the first day of the See the Light workshop, we went to Papohaku on the west end of Molokai to photograph waves. I was off-balance from traveling and needed time to slow down and be ready to photograph. My head was filled with distracting thoughts like: Everyone else is finding things to photograph, why can’t I? I lost my bubble level — you can’t photograph without a bubble level! That sun sure is hot. This might be a decent composition, but the light sucks. Maybe I ought to just sell my equipment. And so on … Needless to say, I was not making great photographs.
As the afternoon wore on, I grew tired and the chatter inside my head quieted. Then, while the sun slipped to the horizon, I began simply following the waves with my camera, pressing the shutter for short bursts of exposures when I was inspired. I was finally ready to accept whatever gifts I might be given through my camera. As Dewitt often says, it’s not about “What will I take today?” It’s about “What will I be given today?”
This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 and is filed under Creative Process. Both comments and pings are currently closed.