Why you shouldn’t stress about missing shots in street photography
Good moments are not finite.
Part of doing the street photography thing, for me, is being ready to take a shot if and when I see something interesting.
I don’t often have time to take the entire day to walk the streets looking for opportunities. I mostly just try to go about my day and when I see things that strike me, I want to be in a position to shoot them.
That means having my camera with me most of the time. I might not take it when I go to the gym or run a quick errand, but most days I’ve got it slung around my shoulder.
But being ready to shoot also means setting a zone focus and adjusting exposure as I move through different scenes. My primary camera is a Konica IIIA, which is fully manual and has no light meter, so in order to shoot I need to be manually adjusting the settings as the light changes. I’m constantly estimating what I think my exposure should be, that way if I see something there’s no fumbling with the camera — I’m simply ready to shoot.
But most days, nothing really shouts at me. Maybe I take a shot here or there of some small moment, but it’s not often I want to cut my roll short and head straight to the lab.
Sometimes you’re just not feeling it
Today, though, I was a bit lazy. I had my camera with me on my commute home, but I just had it on the strap, lens cap on, and the settings at whatever they were from my last shot. I couldn’t be bothered to keep updating my exposure in anticipation.
And wouldn’t you know it, I saw at least four good moments I would have absolutely shot had I been in a position to.
They weren’t one right after the other. There were intervals. I missed one and thought, Oh well … it is what it is. Then another eventually came by and I thought the same thing. By the third or fourth, I was kicking myself a bit for still neglecting to get ready to shoot. 🤦♂️
What I learned
It got me thinking a bit, though, about how it’s easy to become a bit overeager or even obsessive about capturing moments.
When you start shooting street, you start looking for unique moments that tell a story. Most people are not doing this. They’re looking at their phone and minding their own business. You, however … you’re a keen observer of the human condition, watching life happening right in front of you and your trigger finger is itching to document it!
But special moments are not finite and that’s my takeaway from today.
If you live in a big city like I do — moments are all around us at all hours of the day: There are tender moments, violent moments, funny moments, brutal moments — you name it. The whole catalogue of human emotions and experiences are happening each day right in front of us.
Maybe a specific moment is fleeting, but there’s no difference if you attempted to take the picture and missed the shot, or if you didn’t shoot it at all. The end result is the same: You didn’t get the moment.
And instead of becoming more obsessive and vigilant, it’s important to recognize that if you missed or didn’t get the shot today, that’s all right. You’ll get one tomorrow. Street photography, and photography in general, is a marathon not a sprint.
So, give yourself some leeway if you’re feeling lazy, not up for shooting, or if you simply tried and failed to capture the moment. It’s all right and there will be more moments to catch next time you go to shoot.
That said, I’m still going to have my camera with me as much as I can, and I’m still going to do my best to be ready when those special moments do come along.
Thanks for reading!
Do you ever feel obsessive with your shooting? Do you ever feel lazy about it? How do you deal with it? Leave a comment and let me know!