Missing the Good Shots

[Brian C. Miller]

Do you ever feel that you've missed the good shots? I remember reading that photography's greatest forte is capturing unfolding moments.

And then this caught my eye. Seattle Times: Screaming man with dead raccoon in Mukilteo

[ROL]

Indeed. Marshmallows = hazardous material. Why would be that be newsworthy?

FWIW (little to nothing), I have nothing but second or third best moments, correlated with the size of the camera. The only fortunate thing is that viewers of my fine art prints never got to see, or apparently care about, the missed shot I fretted over. (Im)proving a negative?

[ic-racer]

Do you ever feel that you've missed the good shots?

Only when sitting at my computer typing....

[Bob Sawin]

I think the real "money shot" would have been a raccoon dragging a screaming man through Edmonds…

[Bruce Watson]

Do you ever feel that you've missed the good shots? I remember reading that photography's greatest forte is capturing unfolding moments.

I highly dispute the contention that "photography's greatest forte is capturing unfolding moments". Balderdash!

I started in LF photography explicitly to get away from the "capture the moment" mode. Rather than reacting to events, I wanted to take my time and think about what I was trying to do, and consciously make a photograph rather than reactively take a snapshot.

[Heroique]

I remember reading that photography's greatest forte is capturing unfolding moments.

Well, the dynamic tension of several famous AA landscapes will remind one of an unfolding moment – images that elegantly beg, "What came before?" and "What comes next?" His clouds often contribute to this effect (for example, "Half Dome, Cottonwood Trees, Yosemite Valley").

Others are beautifully "at rest," not suggesting the tension of a narrative. His cloud-free moons often convey these non-unfolding moments (for example, "Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite Valley," etc.).

Mysteriously to me anyway, even those "at rest" still communicate a felt rhythm, a cycle of unfolding moments beneath the surface.

[Brian C. Miller]

Adams photographed a number of unfolding moments, and also a lot of serene moments, and a few unfolding serene moments.

From Weegee on Weegee:

And why I think the definition of a news shot would be this, a news picture rather, I once photographed and did a story on Steiglitz, truly a great photographer. And we started talking about things and he said, “Something happens, it’s a thousandth part of a fleeting second. It’s up to the photographer to capture that on film because like a dying day, the thing will never come back again.”

While a screaming man dragging a dead raccoon on a leash is "unfolding," it sure ain't serene. And I'm not sure how much elegance could be put into that, even with marshmallows. It's almost a Weegee photograph, but I'm not sure that even NYC got that weird. Definitely was fleeting, though.

[Michael Graves]

I highly dispute the contention that "photography's greatest forte is capturing unfolding moments". Balderdash!

I started in LF photography explicitly to get away from the "capture the moment" mode. Rather than reacting to events, I wanted to take my time and think about what I was trying to do, and consciously make a photograph rather than reactively take a snapshot.

Bruce, I sort of agree with you and sort of don't. Like you, I tend to avoid highly dynamic subjects. Sporting events, moving models and so forth are fine for other, but I like my natural elements and my touch of man images. Still, I find myself regularly setting up and waiting for the light to be just right. Let that cloud move from there to there. How long before the sun peeks through lights up that hill in the background. Those are the decisive moments of nature that I wait for.

[Jmarmck]

I agree with Michael and Bruce. BUT, when I walk out my door in those just post sundown moments and see a low building cloud in the dusk of the evening and the brightly lit towering mass behind it, with detail in both mind you. I think, "Get the gear!" In the time it takes to go back in, grab the gear which is ever ready, get back to the point which I turned around; the entire scene changes. Time wise, maybe less than a couple minutes, and the lower cloud is completely gone or turned to shredded tissue whilst the tower is completely lost all definition due to light loss and dissipation. While a dying thunderstorm can be fluid and graceful, it means nothing if there is no light on it. The moment is gone.

Yes, that is poor planning on my part but those are the shots I regret not even getting a chance to screw up.

[John Kasaian]

There is a difference between the newsworthy, criminal evidence, and embarrassing people suffering from emotional problems.
I'm not sure where the raccoon photo would fit in there but it would definitely be a Speed Graphic subject.
Embarrassing photos, like Britney on the wrecking ball, leave me with bad feelings just like seeing a bully tease a handicapped person.
Only the teasing eventually stops, while embarrassing images live forever in cyber land.
The passing of light and clouds and water as well as people's expressions are fleeting----for every "good shot" there are countless others that are un-photographed. Sure I regret loosing them, but they aren't really lost, just archived somewhere in my mind. Fretting over them would be like a fisherman regretting all the fish he left in the sea.