PaulDardeau Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 There is a really interesting old barn in a beautiful setting about 30 miles away from me. Every time I drive by it I admire it and think about how I will photograph it. I decided it would be best to use B&W film in medium format. The big question was then should I shoot it in the morning or at dusk. It would probably work better at dawn due to the positioning of some trees just west of it. Ok, it's all starting to come together in my mind. The last question is when? When do I want to make it happen. Various things always come up to prevent me from saying 'today' or 'tomorrow morning'. 3 days ago I was driving the stretch of highway where this old barn is located and just as I was coming up on its location I looked over where it's situated (as usual) to admire it and think about how great it will be in a photograph. BAM!!!! It's GONE!!! What??? Who did that??? Why?? Did a wind storm blow it down?? Landowner tear it down?? At this point it doesn't matter. It's gone! I didn't MAKE time for it! Hard lesson for me - don't put off such photos over and over. Make them happen or else you might miss out. Have you ever missed out on a photo due to procrastination? It's not a nice feeling. I feel dumb and embarrassed for waiting and missing out. School of hard knocks is sometimes painful. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paddler4 Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 Often. I live in New England, and the timing of autumn leaves can differ markedly over a distance of just a few miles. I've gotten to places too late many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
za33photo Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 Take them when you see them , don't overthink , or wait for "better conditions" , "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PapaTango Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 1 hour ago, za33photo said: Take them when you see them , don't overthink , or wait for "better conditions" , "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". Indeed! And amazing results can happen in post... 😎 "I See Things..." The FotoFora Community Experience [Link] A new community for creative photographers. Come join us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 I've learned this lesson too many times. Since the advent of half-way decent phone cameras , I've missed fewer' Past losses: last farmers in my research area using mule teams to plow, House trailer with crazy anti-Nixon slogans all over it and on and on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 Ditto..."I'll get around to it". When my wife was alive, she gave me a small circular wooden token about the size of a large coin, with the word "TUIT" inscribed on it. I asked her what it meant, and she said it was "a round tuit". so now I got my round tuit, and had better get on with what I had been putting off.😁 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericphelps Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 Yes I've finally learned the 'grab it now' ethic after some major losses. In a small town near here, we were driving/walking around looking for anything to get our minds off the rather new pandemic presence, in the pre-vaccine era. I noticed a tiny, crooked and off-level raw adobe addition with a tin roof set against the side of an established old brick bank building. The hand painted sign in the only window said 'Fish Food'. It was a restaurant? I for once hadn't brought my camera..... We went back a month later with shooting that building being the goal; it had collapsed and been washed away by a powerful summer deluge a week prior... 1 Why do I say things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, PaulDardeau said: Have you ever missed out on a photo due to procrastination? Sure. Sometimes it's been disappointing. Sometimes, it pointed me in a different direction. What I mean is that a missed opportunity often leads me to find something else, and there's often something else to find. A photographer can take the memory of what was there or the literal absence of what was there and put that energy and feeling into the next picture taken. Along these lines, when I first moved to San Francisco, I kept meaning to photograph The Mars Hotel, which was on the front cover of a Grateful Dead album I liked. I hadn't realized it was a real place until I got here. Having not gotten around to taking a pic, I was walking downtown one day and found it just as a crane had begun knocking it down. At first, I was really disappointed, until I realized the opportunity here. Got a very cool pic of it semi-destroyed. This was before I was serious about photography and, ironically, I now have no idea where that pic is. That's ok, though, because sometimes a memory without a picture is its very own pleasure. Edited November 13, 2022 by samstevens 1 "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Vongries Posted November 13, 2022 Share Posted November 13, 2022 There was an old abandoned hotel in a nearby small community. Very picturesque and I photographed it often. I thought it would be a great project for renewal into a B&B, but not one I had the funds or talent to pull off. Someone else bought it with the same idea, but found structural issues and over two years, single handedly demolished it. I have photos across the entire time, and everything but the hole in the ground that remains today. I have mixed emotions about the series, an opportunity taken, another missed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCL Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 I was driving outside of town one day and came upon this collapsing barn with the sign which says it all: Peterson-Rd-Barn.bmp 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochetrider Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 Most of my missed opportunities usually happen in far away places that I won’t or can’t return to easily, and many of them are simply my thinking that a given shot could have been better “if”. Lately, tho- since I’ve begun thinking about photographing people more, Ive missed a few chances to shoot interesting strangers who used to work (or whatever) some place I would regularly find myself - but they moved on. Too shy to ask, not wanting to impose, unsure of myself, not having a camera handy in the moment… all equate to missed opportunity. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Parsons Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 As a public transport user (by choice), any such 'fleeting glimpse' I want to shoot often requires a certain amount of planning, since buses very seldom stop 'to order' ! Missed quite a few shots, but I think it makes me value the times when I did manage to record the image for which I had hoped all the more. At least nowadays I have the opportunity to check the image at the time, instead of waiting till I got home and doing some darkroom dabbling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Smith Posted November 14, 2022 Share Posted November 14, 2022 I make it a point to never worry about missed opportunities. Every day millions of great shots are missed by me. In general though, yes if you see something take it, if not don't worry about it. It may not have worked out so well anyway. Many shots you think will be great turn out to be disappointing and vice versa, of course. Robin Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodeo_joe1 Posted November 18, 2022 Share Posted November 18, 2022 (edited) This ancient timber frame building was uncovered from a brick facade after partial demolition for urban renewal in the 1960s. Two days later it was a smoking pile of charred sticks. The arsonist(s) was/were never investigated, and the whole affair was corporately shrugged off. Concerned locals had their suspicions, of course (i.e. impatient developers), but nothing was ever proven. Anyway, I was lucky to get a few snapshots in overcast weather. I was looking forward to a fuller documentation in better light. Obviously that never happened. Carpe diem. Edited November 18, 2022 by rodeo_joe1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjoseph7 Posted November 25, 2022 Share Posted November 25, 2022 Reminds me of eBay. You see and item posted there that you really want. Then you hold off untill the money comes in, only to realize that by that time the item has been sold already... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 (edited) There is still a lot of 18th c (and even some 17th c) construction in French areas along the Mississippi River, but it was often covered over by more recent materials like tar paper and asbestos shingle.. Sometimes it's even saved and restored. Cahokia, Pays des Illinois 1730s However, a goodly number still suffer fates like Rodeo Joe's. Edited November 27, 2022 by JDMvW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisibleflash Posted December 1, 2022 Share Posted December 1, 2022 Op...I miss out all the time. But I do ok bringing some home too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now