The full picture is extraordinarily huge. It is impossible to see it all. The problem is that we often feel we see it all.
Our eyes deceive us by only showing us a tiny sliver of the full picture. No matter how much I think I know about the situation at hand, I just never know the full story. I must remind myself this over and over again. The acknowlegement of self-ignorance always gives me a better and more realistic perspective.
I realize every step of the way how valuable curiosity is to keep pursuing the full picture.
Ah yes, the full “picture." It couldn't be more literal. It relates to photography and to life.
As a photographer, it's taken me years to form a compulsive habit to just get out there and take pictures under any circumstance. This is because like life, I just never know the full picture. Perhaps a picture may suddenly form in front of me to help me create my next artwork. Perhaps I could enter that boring scene with a chance to find my all-time favorite photograph. I just never know.
The clouds could be daunting. Light could be bleak. There might be raindrops. If there’s even the slightest chance for something unusual to happen (or to be happening), I have to be ready to get the shot even if my eyes present something that seems less alluring. I have to look under the surface. I must keep walking. It would be in my best interest to turn over the next rock. No matter what.
FOMO, the "fear of missing out", relates to this. It’s a healthy paranoia to have in photography and in life.
I rarely regret attending events that didn’t meet unreasonably high expectations, but I cannot forgive myself for extraordinary events that I missed because I had ignorant, incorrect, and impossible predictions of the outcome.
We can never know the full picture, so we might as well try to stay curious so we don't miss something extraordinary.
You just never know. So just go. I remind myself of this with and without a camera in my hand.
