In Photography, You Don't Have to Get it Right

If you've come on a photography workshop or photo safari with me, you've probably heard me say that my goal is to get ONE good photo per outing, and one EXCELLENT photo per trip. Those are aspirational goals, and only rarely achieved.

But, and here's the important part - I shoot anyway.

Not every photo you take needs to be a keeper. It's good to shoot regardless of the outcome. Why? Because photography is a practice. Like an athlete working toward a big event, you are training for the moment when things come together. Shooting even in less than ideal situations, or with crummy light, or low action will make you a better photographer. And by being a better photographer, you'll be ready when the leopard jumps on the back of the impala or when the ephemeral evening light sweeps across the mountains of the Alaska Range.

Yesterday morning, I took a hike up a mountain that I can see from my home here in Colorado. As I usually do when I'm hiking, I carried my little Fuji X-T50. It wasn't an ideal morning for photography. Forest fires burning around the state meant that everything was hazy and yellowish. It wasn't so thick that I could smell it, and the mountain views were still decent, but everything was muted, and yeah.. hazy. Making a decent landscape shot out of those conditions wasn't going to happen. But I shot anyway. Not a lot, and not enthusiastically, but I made a few photos.

The mountain I was climbing does not get much traffic. It's a small peak, not even reaching 13,500ft. So I was alone once I left the main trail that wanders past the mountain's base. I hiked up from the main trail, using a very little used path that led to a saddle. From the saddle I would have had a spectacular view across the basin on the far side, and while still lovely, the smoke was obscuring the details and softening the morning shadows.

Further up, I found an outcropping of nearly pure quartz emerging from the ridge. It was surrounded by a field of white, sparkling, quartz sand. I'd never seen anything like it, and composed a few photos.

Low on the summit ridge, I was startled by a small family of White-tailed Ptarmigan. These high-alpine birds, are nearly invisible, blending in almost seamlessly with the lichen-spattered rocks. I wished for a different lens, but the tolerant birds let me get close enough to snap a couple of images with the Fuji.

Eventually, I summited the peak, sat down, and admired the landscape around me, mentally ticking off the mountains I could identify, the distant highway, the hazy valley floor, and checked my map for the names of the creek valleys I could see from my perspective. I took a summit selfie, and started my descent.

Total photos taken with the camera: 25. Total video clips and photos taken with my phone: 23. Total number of "keepers": 0.

Aside from this post, I doubt any of the photos I made yesterday will see the light of day, but being there, practicing with a new-ish camera, and above all thinking about image-making in challenging conditions made me just that little bit better than I was before my hike.

Like that athlete, I was training. You should too.