Votives at the Grotto, from "Despise Not My Petitions"
The golf instructor Harvey Penick often told his students the secret to good golf was to think on the practice range and concentrate on the golf course. To think on the golf course is to court disaster because thinking gets in the way of doing what should be routine. I think this also holds true when photographing. Having complete confidence in your ability to handle the camera and its controls reflexively leaves a whole lot more mental energy available for the creative part of photography.
For the many years I took a view camera on the photo safari, part of my pre-trip preparation was to get out the view camera and practice setting up the tripod, unfolding the camera, attaching the lensboard, focusing and setting the shutter. It was a necessary activity to insure that I could “get the shot” when faced with rapidly changing light.
I’m going to take a break for a few weeks from telling stories about my photographs and get back to writing about preparations for this year’s photo safari. I’ll get back to the stories later. Who knows, there might be a few stories when I blog from the road.
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