Tom Kite once said the difference between professional and amateur golfers is the difference between lightning and lightning bugs. The difference is in the attention to details, dedication and the willingness to never stop practicing. As photographers we should never stop seeing, observing and wondering about what we see in the world in front of us. We should also be ready to act on those observations.
The amateur stops practicing when he does it right once; the professional stops practicing when he can’t do it wrong. In reality, the professional never stops practicing. Professionals expect to perform at the highest level all the time because they have constantly practiced their craft. Shouldn’t it be the same for you and me when we have a camera in hand? I can remember practicing setting up my tripod, unfolding my field view camera, affixing the lens and setting the shutter and getting my focusing cloth set so I could compose on the ground glass quickly. I would do this dozens of times just so I could learn the best way to set up my view camera and create the muscle memory so camera set up would be automatic once I was in the field. We need to be ready to react when we are presented with a rapidly changing scene. Your friends and family might be the only things to wait for you to get your camera ready. The rest of the world certainly won't.
Exercise your photographic muscles every day. Don't stop looking at the world around you. Your smart phone makes a dandy camera to capture those scenes of your life if you left your "big camera" at home.
Today’s photograph is a great example of thinking photographically on a daily basis and being ready to photograph when the moment presents itself. Today’s lovely landscape was made right behind the eighteenth green at Carolina Trace Golf Course in Sanford, North Carolina. I had just finished my round of golf, was closing down the rangefinder golf app on my smartphone. Then I looked up. I went to my camera app and created this lovely photograph. Look at that. Golf and photography included as text and pictures in this week's post.
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