Late one afternoon in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I was lying in the gutter swatting away flies and cockroaches and trying to get an interesting angle on this building, when this chap wandered into frame. I think he briefly glanced at me and probably wondered what the hell I was doing. Maybe I surprised him, but whatever he thought, he paused long enough for me to wipe the sweat from my eyes and take one picture. He then crossed the road shaking his head at crazy foreigners without a second glance. (I expect that today, in a similar scenario I might get shouted at or at least aggressively challenged as to what I was doing) But the thing is, without him in frame all the other shots were dull. I've often wondered how it is that when I have my camera in my hand and looking for a shot, one often presents itself right out of the blue. It's happened so many times I no longer think it a coincidence. And without a camera to hand I've not noticed many missed opportunities, and it's not because I'm not looking because I'm always looking. It seems that just by 'doing something' by holding the camera, working the scene, very often things come together visually almost serendipitously. I guess you make your own luck. So the conclusion I've come to, is that it's no use sitting around hoping for a shot, you just got to get out there, camera in hand, and start working. And then if you're lucky, just like magic it all comes together. Well, more often than not ...
Nikon F3, 24mm f.2 Ektachrome 64.
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