Street of Dreams

I was watching one of the ballgames last night - and had an epiphany about the why of photography.

Each time a batter come to the plate - the circumstances in the game have changed. Even the very best hitter is going to fail 2/3rds of the time. Sometimes the pressure is on and their time in the box means something to the team. Sometimes it's a blowout. But it's the personal challenge. You anticipate the pitch. You anticipate it correctly this time and get a hit. Maybe a game-winning homer. You don't retire after that. You want another chance to do it again.

Photography - for me - is like that.

Photography is mostly about failure in the sense that very few of your images are grand-slams. Ansel talked about being happy if he got 12 good images in a year.

It's this very rarity of the good image (as you define it) that keeps you going. Whether it is street photography or nature shots - the world - and your feeling about the world is different every time you step out of the house. The fact that you define the success is the main difference between art and baseball. Still - the similarities remain. You feel - at these great moments - like you were doing what you were created to do.

You caught light in a bottle. You anticipated the unexpected. You were born in the right place at the right time and your senses are up to the task. Time has slowed down for you - enough to capture some photons as they were meant to be captured.

You move through a constantly changing stream of possibilities. You're on the lookout - and you are plodding through life at the same time. You are walking to pick up your laundry and you are buying breakfast and chatting with friends - and you are somewhere else at the same time.

Work on your technique. Keep your shoulder in. Level swing. Press the shutter gently. You anticipate the pitch. He's thrown a slider to you last time up - I'll be he's going to go inside with a fastball this time. Ah - he fooled me again. Damn. There's always next time.

You become comfortable with uncertainty. To paraphrase MLB - you live for that uncertainty. The audience - they're far away in the stands - staring out windows - passing you by as you stoop to conquer.

You're in the zone. You're bored. It doesn't matter. You're going to take your cut at the ball because that's why you're here. If they don't let you play in the "bigs" - you'll play in triple A. Your moment will come. And if it doesn't - so what? How many people get to play the game they want to play - at any level?

The wind-up. The pitch. It's a long fly ball. The image flies through the air - as if it had wings - going. Going! It's over the wall! It's landed on the street outside the park! It's landed on the street of dreams...