There were two comments in the gallery thread for the reunion that prompted me to start this thread.
Kyle (Ryan's Kyle) posted this: "I'm sure that Marc and Casey will attest that they take thousands more photos than we'll ever see or hear about."
Dane posted this: "I think Mark is very good at getting the shot he wants.
"It wouldn't surprise me at all, if he went to the Grand Canyon, 1000 miles away, to take 2 clicks. One sunset, one sunrise.....and have both be winners."
First, whenever I hear something like this, I always think of the famous Friedrich Nietzsche quote: "He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying."
When I first started taking pictures, I did take thousands of photos. Many of them were not that good. But, through the process of taking a lot of photos, I honed my skills and got better. As a rank amateur, then, there is no doubt that there are a lot of unpublished photos out there. But that's to be expected.
Fast forward to today, though, and Dane is much closer to the mark. I do not take a lot of wasted shots these days. I do a ton of pre-shot homework before I ever get on location. Additionally, once I am on location most of my time is not spent clicking the shutter. Instead, it is spent getting my composition just right. It's not unheard of me to spend an hour finding the right composition. Because my digital sensor is 24mm x 36mm, my final image sizes are sold at 20x30 inches, 30x45 inches, 40x60 inches, etc. If I don't get my composition right, and I am forced to crop, I lose valuable pixels and valuable real estate that I could have used if I had got it right in camera to begin with. So, I spend a lot of time making sure that I get it right before I ever click the shutter.
The image below was my first shot at Toroweap. I took exactly 8 of these shots. I took so many because I was timing the sunburst and the light was dynamic. I had fifteen seconds of this light. As you can see, my window was small. Eight shots would net the perfect shot. It simply gave me a little wiggle room. Fact is, I got eight wonderful shots. I merely picked the absolute best one from the bunch. I couldn't be more pleased with the final shot.
My Horseshoe Bend shot, meanwhile, was very similar to this one. I had a small window to shoot, so the preplanning had to be spot on. If you go out on location, without doing homework, you're going to get shut out. I can almost guarantee it. You will not be in the right spot and you'll have to compromise.
The light at Horseshoe Bend was even more dynamic than Toroweap because of the bend and the various shadows that I had to deal with. Because of that, I had to take several practice shots during the minute leading up to the moment when it would be money time. By the time I got my "this is the real deal" shot, I was dialed in on my exposure. I took about 30 shots of this location. The first ten were throwaways (dialing my settings in). The next 20 shots were all winning shots. Those 20 shots gave me the opportunity to pick the absolute best shot from the group.
This was the final result:
As I mentioned earlier, I do not take a lot of shots on location any more. I go to my locations having done a lot of homework. I know exactly where I want to be before I ever get there. No surprises. The only thing that is not known before I get to a location is my exact composition. I may spend hours just walking around looking for the perfect spot. Once I find it, then I dial in my composition (which usually takes 30-60 minutes). That's why it's so dang critical to get to your location well before sunrise and well before sunset. You need time to get it right -- in camera.
Let me unveil a shot that I've never shown anyone before. When you see this image, you'll think that it was the simplest shot ever taken. It's simplicity writ large. But I spent a long time finding a tree that had this composition. Additionally, if I could catch this tree after a rainstorm I'd be golden. Everything came together with this one. I trespassed to take this photo. I'm on private property. To my left, there is a bull (that you cannot see). It was eyeing us the whole time. Additionally, this photo was taken just after a rain shower. The grass and tree (and me) are soaked. What's not soaked is my camera, which is being covered by clear plastic. As soon as it stops raining, I take the protection away from the camera and get to work. The sun is out in full force (just poked through the clouds to the west). But it's about 1 hour before sunset, so I am getting wonderfully soft light (which is off to the right).
This is the final result:
I took just a few shots of this tree. I think it was three shots in all.
In sum, when you're starting out, expect to take a lot of shots that aren't very good. As you get better, your yield goes much higher. I just don't have to take that many shots of a particular subject these days. Pressing the shutter release cable button is the very last step in getting a great shot.
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