Peter Carroll’s photography blog

When we photograph subjects we know well, we can bring insight that aids how we capture and present an image. For the landscape photographer, knowledge of the land and how light plays across it throughout the year facilitates being at the right place at the right time. For the travel photographer, knowledge of a culture yields a deeper appreciation of customs and rituals. For the sports photographer, knowledge of the dynamics of the game fine tunes preparedness for the highlight moments.

Experience, for sure, can be an asset. The other side of the coin, however, has its advantages too. Inexperience can infuse photography with wide eyed fascination. When subjects are fresh to our eyes we tend to approach them with energy. We aren’t jaded attempting to frame the same old once again. If we haven’t already been influenced by other photographers and their takes on a subject we can bring new perspective. I don’t think wide eyed fascination is a disadvantage. It’s a short lived phase full of potential and experiment. 

Photography, like life, is not all black and white. It’s the range of shades in between that makes it interesting. We create our best work, I believe, when we are able to capture lightning in a bottle and photograph subjects we know well with wide eyed fascination.

I thought the image below, from a trip I took to Oregon back in 2008, showed nicely how Nature likes to mix it up. We photographers should do the same.

© Peter Carroll

Photomatix, by HDRsoft, is a great tool to have in your photography toolbox. Like any tool, it’s not right for every job and it takes a bit of experience to use it skillfully. I’m still finding my way with it but yesterday I had fun processing five versions of the scene below with Photomatix’s exposure fusion software. I came across the scene on my trip through Oregon back in the summer of ’08. The files sat on my drive waiting for the day I had the tools, the interest and the ability to do them justice. I’m happy with the way the final image turned out. I’ll be thinking about how I can use Photomatix to communicate what I want to say about more of the scenes I come across in the future.

© Peter Carroll

Before I became professional photographer, I flew helicopters in the military. We had a great saying in the squadron… a plan is just a point from which to deviate. Now pilots are known for their sarcasm and dark humour but if you push that aside there’s a deeper meaning and a good life lesson to be learned from the phrase. Plans are good but they are not guarantees of how life will play out.  They are starting points. “The best laid plans of mice and men…” and all that.

That lesson may be what this photographic  journey teaches me most of all – a plan is a good starting point but be open to, appreciate and make the most of the unexpected. How often have you pre-planned a shoot and had things go exactly as planned? Yeah I figured I wasn’t the only one. The point I’m getting at is not to reveal that life and photography go off the flightplan at times – we all know that. The point, in regards to the arts, is that how adaptive you are to your environment has a lot to do with how creative you can be. The control freak photographer is a pretty poor photographer. The photographer who appreciates and makes the most of the unexpected is able to express his vision creatively. He plays the hand he’s dealt and gives voice to his reaction to the moment. I believe that’s true photographic vision. Of course some days are better than others but the photographer of vision doesn’t only create images that connect on days when the stars align.

I believe what makes you a professional is how you deal with the unexpected. Can you get the job done when the cards are stacked against you? Experience teaches you what to do when it all hits the fan. Experience gives you the confidence to know it can be done… your creativity determines how you are going to get there.

So when you pick up the camera today, be open to, appreciate and make the most of the unexpected – it’s the twists and turns that make the journey memorable.

Whenever I am out in the field and the weather just isn’t cooperating, or I’m on a shoot and lets just say things aren’t going exactly as planned, I think of my Cannon Beach sandcastle image. On a trip I took to Oregon, my intention in stopping in at Cannon Beach was to capture the iconic haystack formations. However, the unexpected scene of a sandscastle being surrounded by the incoming tide had me throwing the flightplan out the window. The soon to be history sandcastle more clearly captured the Cannon Beach story I wanted to tell. 

Pick a shot from your own portfolio that will remind you that when the number 2 engine flames out –  a plan is just a point from which to deviate.

My image of a sandcastle slowly being washed away by the incoming tide is in the Readers’ Gallery section of the March issue of PhotoLife magazine.

Here’s the little blurb I wrote to accompany the shot –

A recent post over at Nature Photographers.net (http://www.naturephotographers.net/index.html) asked members to post their favourite images from 2008. Looking back over the work you’ve created in the past year is a good excercise. I think part of the ability to appreciate the place one is in right now comes from looking back on the twists and turns in the road that got you there. The two images I picked are 100% based on the my own personal connections to the scenes. The first is a shot of Mt. Hood from a foggy Trillium Lake. I remember feeling a pure sense of peace that morning. The second is a shot that for me captures the exuberance of youth and reminds me of a fantastic family vacation along the Oregon coast.