This moment, this light, in Cape Churchill last week: it didn’t last long. You can photograph it, or let it pass you by. But you may never see it again.
Last week I was sitting in a tundra buggy not photographing polar bears. The bears, driven by a months-long hunger were out on the sea ice, hunting seals. If we’d been there a couple days earlier we’d have had more time with them. But you can’t do anything about the weather, and you never know these things in advance. What you do know, is what’s in front of your face, and that – at least for one day on this trip – was polar bears. We had one day. And on that day conditions were not perfect. Bears were still few and far between. The light was flat. Most of the bears were a long way off. It was what it was, and I made photographs. Some, however, did not. And as the week went on they regretted not taking advantage of that one day. They thought they’d have more time, better light, more bears. They didn’t. And now they also didn’t have the photographs they might have.
Expectations are a funny thing, and this will be neither the first time, nor the last time, I talk about this: they blind us. If your expectations are that tomorrow the weather will be better, the bears will be closer and more numerous, or that the light will be different, you might be inclined not to photograph what’s right in front of you. And it’s not just bears. The same is true of street photography, and portraiture, and certainly weddings, and events. And if you wait for something better to appear, and that something never shows, you’ll have gambled away what you do have for something you don’t.
We have this time. That is all that is guaranteed. Whatever it is: making photographs, making love, making a difference, making good – whatever it is, make it now.
The other day I watched The Impassioned Eye, a one-hour documentary about Henri Cartier-Bresson. He talked about photography being something that happens in the present. You only have what you have now. Later may never come. So if you have a shot, make it. Make it now. That same morning reading I read Jay Maisel, in his book Light, Gesture, and Color, say almost exactly the same thing. Sure, be patient, and wait. But don’t do that at the expense of also making a photograph of what you have, right there in the moment. Tomorrow you may not have even that.
It’s a lesson well-learned as a photographer, and more so as a human: whatever it is, make it now. We won’t always have what we have now, these moments, these loved ones, this health, or these bank accounts. If there’s one thing certain it’s that life changes. Too fast at times, and too slow at others, but it changes. We have this time. That is all that is guaranteed. Don’t get complacent. Whatever it is: making photographs, making love, making a difference, making good – whatever it is, make it now.
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“… He knows he’s aged a lot: he sees it, feels it.
Yet it seems he was young just yesterday.
So brief an interval, so very brief.
And he thinks of Prudence, how it fooled him,
how he always believed -what madness-
that cheat who said: ‘Tomorrow. You have plenty of time.'”
(An Old Man, Constantine Cavafy, 1897)
So absolutely true. Not just for photography but anything in life. If photography has taught me anything, you have to be out to create things.
Carl Sagan says “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” It could even be here, but I wont discover it unless I look. That is the way I interpret your words, Jay’s words, Carl’s words.
I am learning that expectations can be a stumbling block (but only if I allow them to be). When I stay open to what could be possible, and work with what I have (in all my life, not just when making photographs), magic seems to happen.
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That was the lesson I learned when making “Chasing the Light” – http://www.jcruzfineart.com/chasing-the-light/
Thanks for sharing that with us David.
Boom! Right now!
I totally agree with you David, although I believe I’m one of those always looking for perfect conditions.. I have become much better at this, but I acknowledge it takes time.
Your recommendation of Galen Rowell’s book touches me though, I believe, and hope I soon will be even better at seeing potential photographs !
Thank you David. A much-needed reminder.
I totally agree! You have to be ready when things happen and you should take every chance life gives you.
Wow, this is exactly what I needed to hear tonight. The photography part is great advice but the advice for life is dead on. Thanks David!
This was a hard felt lesson today, and only after not making it happen did I read this. Another fire is lighting in me again to not have these regrets and this was written exactly how I was talking to myself, only better. Thank you for these words.
Absolutely spot on…
“The only true thing is what’s in front of you right now.”
― Ramona Ausubel
Yes. So much yes!
Such a deeply felt post – well said – And I saw some of the photos you posted of the bears – they are extremely beautiful.
Yes!
It was a split of a second when dusk get thru between trees. I hit it. Thank you for inspirations 🙂