State of Mind
Be Prepared but Flexible.
Tip
Always carry your camera! Sounds silly to say, but it’s an essential ingredient of any great shot. If you have no camera, you have no shot at all!
You may not think of your state of mind as "basic photography information," but I think it’s crucial to taking great pictures.
All too often, we photographers get a preconceived notion about what we’re going to shoot that day. We decide that today is the day for us to shoot horses. Worse, we see a particular image in our minds ("I want to shoot a red barn against a blue sky, with some horses roaming in the front"). When we do that, we can spend the day driving around the countryside "looking" for that image, which may prove to be elusive (all the horses are in the barn that day!). End result? We’ve wasted the day.
Instead, be flexible. Sure, drive out into the countryside! But be open to what you find there. One of the best pieces of photographic advice I’ve received was at a talk by National Geographic photographer, Steve McCurry. Paraphrased in my own words, it was:
Look for where the great light is. What’s in that light? Shoot that!
On the other hand, as well as being flexible, you must still be prepared. There’s always a balance between being open to what you find, and being prepared. Here’s another favorite quote of mine:
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."