I find it somewhat odd that when I lived in San Francisco, while going to school, I never really shot pictures for fun. Maybe it was because I was too busy with school work to wander around the city. Maybe it’s because is was 15 years ago, pre-digital, and every frame I snapped, cost me money I didn’t really have as a student. Now, especially with digital, I shoot a lot more. A LOT! Most for fun, some for jobs.
Cartier-Bresson once said, “the first 10,000 photos are always your worst.” This may have been true back in the film days where you waited patiently for scenes to unfold, waiting for the light to be right, waiting for that decisive moment to snap the shutter. Today with digital, I’d be more apt to say the first 100k pictures are always your worst. Easily the first 100k. As much as I try not to spray and pray, and really plan out my shots. I, too, am guilty of just aiming, squeezing the shutter, and seeing what happens.
As a result of this, my keeper pics are way down in comparison to what I actually shoot. And even those aren’t always the best. I think I’ve decided on working on a new project for the next year. As, most of you know, I shoot a day a week for the OC Daily Photo Blog. Some weeks I get a chance to go out and shoot stuff, and some weeks I phone it in, literally, with pics taken with my cell phone. What I’m going to try, for the next year is to shoot only within the confines of the City of Orange. I live here, always see cool stuff to shoot, but never really make an effort to capture it. We’ll see how far I get into it this next year. I figure, if I plan to shoot, it will happen. Wait, and capture.
The picture up top was taken in San Francisco the first week of December. Dana and I had just been to SFMOMA to see the Cartier-Bresson show, and I was somewhat inspired. It also helped that the rain at night made for really cool reflections. I took this while waiting for a light to change, looking up California Street.
