Bumbling Towards Perfection

Today I shared a video clip from Jay Maisel on “How to Be a Better Photographer.” Really interesting clip, that is, as it really speaks to the process at least the process I follow. In the clip he talks about “bumbling and fumbling” (excuse me if I paraphrase here. I do wholeheartedly recommend you view the clip in it’s entirety for the exact words.) Photographers are always “bumbling and fumbling” indeed. It’s always a process. You walk around, you walk slowly, you’re on the hunt, you see what you see, you feel what you feel and, in the end, you hope you craft images that halfway live up to all of that. Seriously. Nobody knows what they are doing and, if they do, they should go back and question everything they think they know. Nobody knows, for certain, what something will look like photographed. Sure, most of us have ideas but they actually fall into the realm of the “educated guess” more than the certainty factor. We all bumble, it’s part of the process. It’s hard work to get good shots and the best of the best, why, they make it look so easy, don’t they?

Some days, frankly, I just don’t know where photography comes from. Is it inside of me wanting to get out? Is it outside of me wanting to come in? Do I have a thought, share a clue or am I just enjoying the innocent hapless wanderings that life throws my way? These are really difficult questions to answer and, again, frankly, I doubt anybody really has a solid answer. We do what we do because we must. It’s some kind of drive within us that makes us take pictures, yes, but it’s never quite the process, it’s not quite the journey we set out for it to be.

On some levels, we are indeed all bumbling towards perfection. We want the perfect shot and bumble our way halfway there. What was that Ansel Adams said? Twelve in a year is a good crop? A really good crop indeed.

Bumble on, my fellow photographers, bumble on!

Until next time…

PS This one shot with the new Lensbaby Velvet 56 on the Double Bluff driftwood beach. Man, I told you that stuff was golden. Love me some fresh driftwood when the light gets all soft like that. Fun stuff for a good bumble, don’t you think?

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