Its pretty cool when opportunity knocks and you’re home to answer the door and open it up to reveal an unexpected surprise. This is true in life as well as in our photographic pursuits. I’m sure you’ve probably had times when you were in the right time in the right place and were presented with a great photograph that you weren’t expecting. That is what happens when opportunity knocks.
The other day opportunity came a knocking and I was thankful that I was listening and responded. I had headed out from our house to go to a nearby wetland to photograph some ducks and heron, as well as some Fall foliage reflections in the water. I grabbed my Fujifilm GFX50s and GF100-200mm, which is not my normal wildlife combo. I wanted to challenge myself a bit handholding this camera along with not having the reach of 400mm or 640mm that I could achieve with my X-T3. I hopped in to the truck and drove the 10 minutes to the wetland. I happened to park in a lot of a local business park as it was the closest to the wetland. I had been preparing myself, my mental model, on the drive for shooting birds in a natural setting as well as thinking about color combinations for reflections.
It was good that I was getting in to the creative zone because when I parked my truck, this is when opportunity knocked. I hopped out of my truck, grabbed my camera sitting on the seat beside me, shut and locked the door and then took one step towards the rear of the truck to begin walking to the wetland area. I happened to look up and I was stopped in my tracks with what I saw. Across the parking lot there was a row of bushes the most vibrant pink/red color sitting there and right behind them was the grey wall of a building. WOW!!!! I instantly shifted gears mentally and began walking towards the bushes. I spent about 10 minutes there framing up several different shots, capturing the different shapes of the bushes against the wall. It is such a simple scene, but it captured my attention and ignited my creative spark for a good bit of time. Here is the shot that resulted…
It is such a simple shot, but also a very strong shot in my opinion. I have written before about how “simple is strong” and this shot exemplifies that for me. The color blocking, how far up in to the frame the bushes go, how vibrant they are compared to the tone of the grey wall behind…..all of those things are what makes this shot so pleasing to me. This is one of those shots too that some may look at and go “meh”, which is OK, art is subjective. But for me, it is one that I am very pleased with.
This little episode is a good reminder for me about how randomly opportunity knocks on my door. You just never know when a good image will come along. I had been expecting some decent shots of ducks and heron and maybe some foliage. I definitely was NOT looking for shots like this. No way! I still am shaking my head that I found a shot I like so much in a parking lot of a corporate business park, not out in some exotic location surrounded by epic views. To be honest, creating art in a parking lot kind of goes against pre-conceived notions of what a landscape/nature photographer “should” be doing to create art. I was able to put aside any stigmas or notions and immerse myself in to the moment to do the best work I could at the time in the given conditions. It doesn’t really matter where or how the image is created. What matters is that it’s a nice image for me to enjoy! The moral of the story for me is…
- Always be listening for a knock on the door. Be in tune with your surroundings, not solely focused on your primary objectives.
- When that knock comes on the door, don’t be shy about opening it. Stop the car, take a detour, do whatever and go get that picture.
When that opportunity knocks, listen for the sound and then wholeheartedly open the door and create some great images!
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