There’s No Quota

In the early stages of post-processing the set of images I brought back from Alaska, I noticed something that, had I been conscious of it previously, it was only vaguely: the number of images I had made during the first couple of days of the trip was pretty modest. A moment later, I forgot about it.

White Pocket, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona

If I forgot about it, how is that I’m mentioning it here? I was reminded of the situation when I produced the posts for Day 1 and Day 2 of the trip. That exercise served as another prompt; there hadn’t been a lot of photographs made on the first two days.

Chapel Creek Intimate, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan

In the past, this sort of thing bothered me, and more than a little bit. My thinking at the time was, in essence, that I’d gone to a lot of trouble and expense to go on a photo trip. And, as the term “photo trip” clearly implies, the point of the exercise was to engage in photography. A small number of images implied that relatively little photography had been done. And, yes, I found that bothersome.

Chisos Mountains Moonset, Big Bend National Park, Texas

But at some point, after I’d been taking these trips for at least a few years, I discovered that my attitude regarding this subject had, shall we say, evolved. “Engaging in photography,” I came to feel, involved a great deal more than summing up the number of times I pressed the camera’s shutter button on a given day. More broadly speaking, this wasn’t an exercise in producing image volume. While a “good photo day” might include a large number of images, it certainly didn’t have to be that way. Producing a lot of images in a single day is neither a necessary nor sufficient element of having a good day in the field.

Sunrise, Papawai Point, Maui, Hawaii

There’s no quota. That was the lesson that I ultimately learned, though I couldn’t begin to tell you exactly when I came to this realization. I’ve had “good photo days” where I produced no more than a handful of images.

Backlit Maple, Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin

I have, in fact, had a “good photo day” when I produced exactly zero images, though honesty compels me to report that I didn’t recognize that said day was a “good” one until it was in the rear view mirror. On this occasion, I spent an entire day scouting, an exercise that led to some subsequent wonderful photo opportunities–opportunities that wouldn’t have come about had I not spent the day scouting. That’s how a day without photos turned into a very good photo day.

Birch Trunks, Ermine Hill Trail, Denali State Park, Alaska

So, it’s absolutely possible to have good photo days without making many images. Besides, there were plenty of subsequent days on the Alaska trip filled with innumerable good photo opportunities…and some of those were good photo days, too. 🙂

Good Harbor Beach Sunrise, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Michigan