higher intentions

here is a photography quote i found today...

"i never have taken a picture i've intended. they're always better or worse." {diane arbus}

i thought this was an interesting statement. i think i might be able to say the same. i mean, out of the thousands upon thousands of photos i've taken {what a crazy digital age we are in that allows us that!}, there might be a few that turned out exactly as i intended. but for the most part, they are better or worse. {i wish i could say better more often than worse.}

the above picture is one such photo that turned out unexpectedly. i really intended to take some fun, memorable pictures of friends visiting from out of town who were able to meet isaac for the first time. and i'd have been happy to get something that showed them smiling and enjoying each other... because that is what our visit truly was... lots of smiling {and laughing} and pure enjoyment of our reuniting for a time.

what i did not know is that the lighting outside the restaurant would be absolutely perfect... though in mid-day, it was overcast enough to not cause harsh shadows and bright enough to give plenty of light, allowing for the lowest aperture i could get away with. even as i took the pictures, i wasn't thinking, "man, these are going to turn out well with this kind of light!"

what i also did not know was that my dear friend, michele, would be wearing the perfectly toned bright purple dress that would look lovely in contrast to the bright greenery behind her and complimentary with isaac's bright blue and red get-up. even as i took the pictures, i didn't think, "oh, great color going on here!"

i'm not big on overly-posed pictures. sometimes, you can't get around it. you have to have people pose. but even then, i like it to be natural... or at least feel natural. but i did not request or instruct that here. of course, i guess i did not have to, since i kept on taking pictures even when no one was "ready". {*wink*} in fact, this was taken while my kind-enough-to-model-for-me son and friends were preparing to have their posed pictures taken. isaac was squirmy, leaving sweet and patient michele to wrangle him. i like taking pictures of those in-between moments. always have. they are quite often the shots i favor over the "say cheese" photos.

anyway, i'd be lying if i said this happens often... a better-than-intended photo. but i have to add, i'm sure going to celebrate it when it does happen! {way better than spending time dwelling on the photos we are disgusted or disappointed with... you know which ones... the ones that make us doubt ourselves and our abilities.} there are a lot of things happening here that make this one of my favorite photos that i've taken in a while.


yes, i got a little lucky with this shot and the others i took that day... lucky in lighting and wardrobe and timing. but if i make an effort to see and appreciate just what made this shot good, i may be more likely to seek out those things {the best lighting... eye-pleasing color schemes... unpretentious, relaxed settings} the next time i shoot.

this is the sort of shot i'd love to frame and/or hang simply based on who is in it. but i think that maybe sometimes we should celebrate those shots that we surprise ourselves with by printing and hanging them no matter what or who the photo is of... to remind ourselves that we can do better than we often give ourselves credit {even if it's sometimes just about luck or being in the right place at the right time}. then perhaps the next time we shoot, we will set our intentions even higher.

wouldn't you agree?