A Worn Path

I recently read an article in a photography magazine that doubled down on the importance of visualizing an image for a successful photographic outcome. I have opined on this basic subject a number of times over the years on this blog.

Aspen Leaves and Rocks, Fireside Picnic Area, Banff National Park, Alberta

In essence, my position has been that an over-reliance on the vision you have in your head can–and probably will–lead to disappointment much of the time. After all, how often do the perfect conditions come together in the real world? More to the point, how often do the perfect conditions that you’re envisioning come together in the real world when you happen to be present? (Hint: the correct answer is somewhere between seldom and never.)

Spring Forest Floor, Forty Acre Rock Heritage Preserve, South Carolina

Perhaps more significant than the disappointment that stems from not getting “the shot” that you’re specifically seeking is the realization that there are many other images you’re not making as a function of the tunnel vision implicit in the visualization process. It stands to reason that if I’m focusing the bulk of my creative attention on obtaining something particular, my ability to recognize image-making opportunities that I’m not specifically seeking will be diminished, possibly to the vanishing point.

Pompton Lake Intimate, Terhune Memorial Park, Passaic County, New Jersey

I don’t want to oversell the argument. For one thing, I’ve been known to engage in the visualization exercise myself every now and again. And I don’t want to leave the impression that good image-making opportunities are a function of turning oneself into some sort of tabula rasa, entering the field with no semblance of preconceived notions. That would be absurd. When I go to the seashore with my camera, I have some embedded sense of the kinds of things I’m going find, and those are very different than the sorts of elements I expect to encounter if I travel to the mountains or the desert or the North Woods.

Tree Roots Black & White, East Bluff Trail, Devil’s Lake State Park, Wisconsin

I don’t expect to find colorful foliage at the beach, or palm trees in the mountains or seashells in the desert or cacti in the North Woods. And in the very (?) unlikely event that I did stumble across any of those things in those places, I’d probably be sufficiently shocked to be shaken from the stupor of preconception and produce an image or two of that rare alpine palm tree.

Birch Grove, Hatcher Pass,, Alaska

No, the point is much more nuanced than that.

Seeing in the field isn’t necessarily easy. It’s even more difficult–incalculably so–when you’re distracted. It may seem like a subtlety at first blush, but in my view there is a great deal of difference in the ultimate image making universe between moving through a landscape looking for something specific and moving through a landscape simply looking. For something, anything, interesting, motivating, eye-catching, enticing.

MacBryde Garden, National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai, Hawaii

The distinction is intangible and may even seem contrived, but it’s encapsulated in a mindset that led to the making of every image accompanying this post. It’s a difference that leads to the discovery of something, not the realization of one specific thing.

The Heart of the Matter, Zion Plateau, Zion National Park, Utah

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