The Right Time and The Right Place

I've come to the conclusion that a large part of photography comes down to luck. This was driven home to me tonight as I was walking to my car after work. The weather wasn't brilliant, it had just finished raining, and as I crossed a road, I turned to look for cars, and saw the most stunning sight. The sunset was brilliant, the sun had just sunk below the horizon, and the last of the light was painting the clouds in brilliant shades of pink and orange.

As luck would have it, I was able to get a great view further along the road, and I had my camera with me, so I snapped off a couple of shots. By the time I'd walked the last 20 metres to my car, the light show had faded. I was truly lucky to be in a position to take those couple of photos while the light was at its best.

Often, the difference between a good photo and a fantastic photo is down to being at the right place, at just the right time. It's certainly possible to plan photos, but you're still at the mercy of nature. Sometimes, despite all the planning in the world, the light just doesn't happen, and then when you least expect it, you're treated to an amazing display.

It's for that reason that I'm rarely without a camera of some sort these days, whether it's my MF or 35mm SLRs, or my little point and shoot digital (used to take the photo in this post). It's impossible to take a photo with the camera you don't have...