Buddhist Temple
Baotou, Inner Mongolia, PRC
Indecision is the biggest killer of great photographs. I can think of nothing worse than being undecided about a photograph. The first decision every photographer must make is whether or not to commit to a particular scene. In the olden days of film photography (like, five years ago) there was a cost for film and an investment of time in the creation of a photograph. When I was doing large format photography, I took a long time to decide if I was committed enough to the scene to spend the time and money on developing the film and making a print. There was a whole lot of editing done before the shutter was pressed because there was an investment of time and money on the outcome. Prior to the exposure, you had to be committed to the photograph and the process.
A long time ago Portland Photographer Richard Brown made a comment about people taking 1/30 of a second to make a photograph and spent the rest of their life trying to explain the photograph. I think it’s much better to take the necessary time to figure out what the photograph will mean, how you will achieve that meaning and then decisively make the photograph.
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