Intuition was perhaps the most important element I came to understand by learning to shoot with film. This image was made during early October while my cousin Loren was surfing near Sisters Rocks along the Southern Oregon coast. This was the only image that I captured of him surfing this wave.
I transitioned into shooting with my Nikon FG-20 which most of the photos in this book are made with, and a 200mm manual focus lens. A beautiful warm morning light broke over the hillside and cast itself down through the marine layer of high fog to light up a section of the shoreline.
While tracking him through the viewfinder of the camera I knew that I had one photograph that I could make before he would move out of the wave. I tried to watch the moving elements in the scene, I waited for the waves to ride him into the sunlight then I took the photo.
While working on this project I began relying more on my intuition when making an image, and less on the display screen located at the back of my digital camera. The process of making photos with a film camera created the necessity for me to be more perceptive and observant of the changing elements I was photographing.
With film, I did not have the option to shoot 8 frames a second to capture an image. I had to learn to rely on my insights about the subject to compose a stronger picture. I know that I often feel out of touch with my intuition. Many of the modern conveniences and digital tools offer an almost unlimited amount of data, and analytics as a foundation for our decisions, but very few of these tools make use of our intuitive nature.
Learning to rely on intuition when taking photos requires a photographer to be more attentive to the elements in the scene rather than focusing on the data coming from the camera. I found that I can intuitively know that a photo’s horizon line is crooked in the same way we all do when we enter a room with a crooked picture frame hung on the wall. I intuitively know if the subject of my photo is in the right place to compose the shot.
Allowing myself to become conscious of my intuitive choices about the photos I made helped me see past simply being a technician behind the camera, and become more comfortable creating behind the camera.
Following my intuition is simple. For me, it means to be aware of the changing subject and environment.
Following my intuition may be as simple as recognizing that the horizon line creates an implied line in the photo that will cut right through my subject’s head. In this example, I would try to recompose the frame so that the horizon line will not distract from the final picture.
Recognizing and following my intuition could also be understood that the light on a hillside is becoming softer and warmer as the sun moves closer to the horizon, which would give me the light I might want for a landscape shot. Intuition is not focusing my attention on the camera’s exposure meter more than I am the scene in front of me.
Developing intuition takes time, patients, and lots and lots of experience. It is a broad idea and can be applied to different aspects of my creativity all the time. If I will be photographing a subject, I try to take a few moments to observe it and connect with it. I try to take note of how the scene makes me feel. This familiarity informs the intuitive choices that I might make while taking the photo.
If you’re looking to discuss photography assignment work, or a podcast interview, please drop me an email. Drop Billy Newman an email here.
If you want to book a wedding photography package, or a family portrait session, please visit GoldenHourWedding.com or you can email the Golden Hour Wedding booking manager here.
If you want to look at my photography, my current portfolio is here.
If you want to purchase stock images by Billy Newman, my current Stock photo library is here.
If you want to learn more about the work Billy is doing as an Oregon outdoor travel guide, you can find resources on GoldenHourExperience.com.
If you want to listen to the Archeoastronomy research podcast created by Billy Newman, you can listen to the Night Sky Podcast here.
If you want to read a free PDF eBook written by Billy Newman about film photography: you can download Working With Film here. Yours free.
Want to hear from me more often?Subscribe to the Billy Newman Photo Podcast on Apple Podcasts here.
If you get value out of the photography content I produce, consider making a sustaining value for value financial contribution, Visit the Support Page here.
You can find my latest photo books all on Amazon here.