Oops… or not?
I have a blog half-written about our incredible visitors this week which is just begging to be posted, but I really needed to share this quick one first.
You know how I have been giving you a peek at some of the water-skiing action here which has been taking place on the river running beside our house (full again after almost three decades dry, thanks to last January’s floods)? Well our visitor’s seven-year-old man (known as Master Sporty as his mother’s blog) had his first crack at the sport. And did amazingly well… of course, neither parent is UNathletic so he had a headstart. He was a PICTURE of CONCENTRATION.
And I took many pics of his efforts, including…
… a mistake!
The ladder at the back of the boat was accidentally left down and sent spray up – and my autofocus got all confused about where it should aim… I initially got a bit cranky with it, threatening to turn it onto MANUAL if it didn’t behave. (Frightening talk, I know). But I have to say, once I downloaded and looked at the shot on the computer, I kinda fell in love with it.
I’d never have thought to take a shot like this deliberately, but the frozen water ‘sculpture’ and drops and even the bokeh on the little skiier and the further-away water droplets is kinda groovy.
And if I think about it, that kind of whoops-but-oh-look thing happens often. I make mistakes ALL THE TIME. Some teach me what I SHOULDN’t do, and some teach me to RELAX and think outside the square. So I guess really very few of them are wasted shots.
I guess, in essense, the morals of this (very brief) story are:
1. Don’t be give up if the conditions aren’t completely ideal or controlled.
2. Don’t delete before you inspect thoroughly.
3. Don’t be scared to show off your ‘mistakes’.
And this advice can also refer to your photographic efforts.
Heh.
🙂
BB
8 Comments
JulieinOz
‘Whoops-but-oh-look’…love that BB.
Many years ago in the early 70’s when 1st born was tiny (giving my age away here)I had a rather old camera and could only afford black and white film. I took many photos of bub one day, waited to get them developed and discovered there were shadows over bub’s face because the light was behind him and some were a little dark. I considered them flops and promptly dumped them into the box with all the other less than perfect photos. Then a few years ago when I found Scrapbooking, I discovered these old dark shadowy photos were actually trendy…now they are all re-developed, blown up, cropped, lightened and sepia-ed! And they are actually some of my most treasured photos. One of them even won me a Scrapbooking prize. So Yes…sometimes the mistakes can actually be totally surprising. I remember when those lovely sun flares behind people made the photographer look amateur…now we do it deliberately!
Love the look of concentration on your young visitors face and love the water sprays.
Inspirational as usual. Thanks BB…
Oopsiemumma
Definitely no mistake. I LOVE that photo xo
Oopsiemumma´s last blog post ..MERRY CHRISTMAS
Bragger
You don’t know how happy you’ve made me, letting me know that even real photographers use auto-focus. Thank you for making my day! Mwah!
BB
While I hesitate to call myself a ‘real’ photographer (I have no degree) I use both manual and auto focus often. Depends on the conditions. I probably SHOULD have used manual here because the focal length didn’t change much (the ski rope length dictated where the action was) but I was zooming between boat shots and ski shots. Well, that’s my excuse and I am STICKING with it!
Kelly
I quite like the way this mistake turned out!
Kelly´s last blog post ..I Spy – Projects
Barb . B
There are no mistakes only lessons to learn and experiances to not repeat.
Jayne
Nah, you could never make a mistake with your camera 😉
Jayne´s last blog post ..Cycling adventures in urban forests sans hair
Kate
I love it too. I really do!
Kate´s last blog post ..Fiery gems for you