F-Eight And Be There

There's a story that goes about a visitor to a gallery where a photographer is displaying his work. Walking through the show, the visitor finds one of the prints to be particularly appealing, and calling over to the photographer asks how he got the picture. Expecting to be told it was taken with a certain brand of camera, a lens of a particular focal length and exposed on a specific film (this story predates digital photography) at such and such a combination of shutter speed and aperture, the visitor is surprised when the photographer simply replies, "f-eight and be there".

It was not a very technically informative answer, but probably the most honest one. And, its truth is probably even more appropriate today than when first told a few decades back. In this age of technological wonders, where millions of people have access to image-making equipment that is at least as good as what top professionals used only a few years ago, the saying is more true than ever that equipment alone does not make make the photographer.

I currently work with top of the line multi-megapixel digital camera bodies and a collection of special-glass interchangeable lenses, but it's not just this new gear that's responsible for my best photos. I'll admit, I can take a lot more keeper-quality images in a day now, but being in the right place and at the right time I've found remains the most important quality for outstanding photos.

For me, that usually requires travel to location, boarding a boat, stepping into a plane or helicopter or maybe even hiking or climbing to a remote, often uncomfortable and sometimes precarious setting. Frequently weather conditions are not the best; there's too little wind or too much; the light is too contrasty or too flat - or not enough. And, whether it's hovering over a starting line, lining up at a mark for the fleet to round or climbing a mast, tower or rock face, there's usually some element of uncertainty thrown into the situation that makes things, well, let's call it interesting.

Many years ago I learned both the fundamentals as well as the more technical aspects of photography. Coming from an engineering school background, I guess I never found them particularly difficult. Much more challenging has been to be "front and center" on an often-moving platform and getting the shot at what Cartier-Bresson called "the decisive moment".

F-eight is the easy part.