Read an interesting post on Digital Photography School (dPS): 5 ways to stop being a luck photographer {and start taking pictures on purpose}.
[I’d like to link properly to the author’s site…but I’m not entirely clear what that IS these days. But here is what at least seems to be the home of her former photography blog.]
Even after the number of years I’ve been interested in photography, I’m afraid I still consider myself a “luck photographer.” Not for any of the reasons note in the post mentioned though. At least, not any more. Well…mostly.
Of the five, I’m really only guilty of one. (Despite the post title, there are actually SIX items noted. She’s a photographer, not a mathematician, so…)
I still take way too many pictures. Not nearly as much as years gone by, to be fair. (To be clear….I don’t take too many pictures overall. I take too many pictures of the same thing. Each might be better then the previous, but it’s a bit of a bell curve…usually I can improve the shot, but then generally beat it to death by the last few pics.)
Items 2-6? Not really a problem any more.
I think with a lot of photographers, luck enters the equation far beyond just the six ways listed. An awful lot of us (and yes, I did include myself in that “us,”) can frame the shot, leverage lighting, know our camera and our subject—or at least, what we want to capture or communicate about our subject—squeeze the shutter, and…miss the shot. Sometimes your just grab and shoot, at best hoping you get the focus right, fingers crossed for the rest. It helps to be quick on the aperture/shutter speed dial.
Side note…interesting bit of “between the lines” ambiguity in the author’s fifth note on shooting with purpose: “I set up the shot, take control of the light, capture the image and when I’ve got it, I move on to another.”
What does “when I’ve got it” mean? I think it means…even the best photographers take a couple insurance shots.
Anyway…the gallery at the top are just a few of my favorite “lucky” shots.
Minor Irrelevancies 
One thought on “Ballad of the Four-leaf Clover”