A friend of mine recently purchased WITNESS for her bedroom, and the image brought me back to this scene, and more importantly, it reminded me of a lesson in photography that I apply to my life.
You see, this picture was a mistake. Okay, maybe not a mistake, but an accident. The sun was setting quickly and time was running out. I couldn't find an interesting foreground so in a random panic, I decided to remove my eye from the eyepiece and brought the camera down to my ankles and just started shooting random images without looking, just shooting my camera like a machine gun. I felt the extreme low angle, albeit blind, might show some unique perspectives. I left the autofocus on and I could hear the camera whipping and whirling finding different subjects to focus on and capture as the sun fell below the horizon.
This one certainly jumped out at me.
It was focused perfectly, and I honestly would have never thought of this composition. I never saw this perspective.
I was captivated by how the thin tall grass admired the sunset just like I did, and how the rays of the sun collected within it to make it glow. The falling, curved strand of grass turned the sun into the shape of an eye. The name WITNESS came naturally to me.
I tossed away careful consideration in favor of experimentation and chance. It paid off.
Sure, this is easy when it comes to photography, because in the age of the digital photography, there are no rolls of film. You basically have unlimited chances to capture an interesting image.
I think this line of thinking can go quite far when applied to real life, though, too. You should never limit yourself from thinking you don't have a chance to create something interesting. You should remember that every single situation might present a unique opportunity to discover something that you will remember forever. Maybe it could change your life. Throw the normal way of doing things out the window. See what happens.
Try something different and do not care about failing. Experimentation leads to great things you can never plan for.
This was Life Lesson #2 photography has taught me, and this is Life Lesson #1.
