Missed opportunities

[SnappingShark]

How many opportunities for an amazing shot pass you by?

How often are you on the bus / in the car without your camera and something amazing comes up, hangs around, and then you know it's lost forever?

Have you ever thought about what you missed, and wanted to recall it from memory later - in a different art form (painting, perhaps)?

I was just thinking as my bus broke down this morning and the most beautiful purple and orange sky was ahead of me, with one single solid tall building silhouetted next to a silhouetted mountain, and a bajillion stars still visible.

 

[rexbobcat]

I try not to think about it. It puts me in a bad mood.

 

[TKD]

Only every other day. I carry all my equipment with me but will forget the tripod. Or just running on one little errand and that is the time I only take my wallet and see the best eagle shot, deer shot, pheasant shot, ………..

 

[480sparky]

Every day I drive by a shot that would be impossible for me to stop and snap in time.

A flock of geese against a perfect sky. A little girl with a colorful umbrella, silhouetted in the sun. A jet crossing in front of the moon.

Every day. But usually when driving.

 

[SnappingShark]

Every day I drive by a shot that would be impossible for me to stop and snap in time.

A flock of geese against a perfect sky. A little girl with a colorful umbrella, silhouetted in the sun. A jet crossing in front of the moon.

Every day. But usually when driving.

Ahh, eyes always on the road huh? haha just kidding. It sucks that there are so many missed opportunities - but it only makes those you get more ... special!

 

[runnah]

When I was in high school one of our very attractive sub teachers had a wardrobe malfunction. I wish I had had a camera then because no one believed me.

 

[limr]

I often see something that would make an incredible picture but I either don't have a camera or it's impossible to use it for whatever reason When that happens, I allow myself a quick moment of frustration, but then I just relax and stop thinking about the picture and start simply enjoying the view or scene or whatever it is. I might not get a picture of it, but I'm still experiencing it, and that's pretty great too. Cameras might not be possible, but vision and memory still work

Seriously, if we thought about every missed photo op, I think we'd all go insane. We can't capture everything and I think it's better for our peace of mind once we accept that.

 

[SCraig]

I see them a lot but once gone I never give them another thought. No sense dwelling on the past, it's over and done.

 

[wwalford]

I would hate to know. I often say wow cool shot, but that is it. Forget about it. You just get obsessed and depressed if you concentrate on them. You cannot take every opportunity take the ones you can and accept it.

 

[480sparky]

I don't fret one single bit over the missed opportunities. I just think, "Oh, well.... that's life" and move on.

Then, when I AM prepared and find a keeper, I revel in the moment.

 

[pgriz]

Missed photographic opportunities are like the witty rejoinder you think of ten minutes after the moment has passed. Eh. It happens. I try to note/remember the conditions (location, time of day, etc.) that may be relevant in the future, and file that away in my very cluttered and not always reliable memory bank. Usually, the reason I can't/don't take the shot is that I'm driving somewhere, and there is no convenient place to stop, or the schedule is tight, or I have company with me that won't appreciate stops for photographic opportunities. Occasionally, it's because I didn't anticipate the moment and wan't ready for "it" when it happened. I almost always have the camera gear with me, so it's not a case of not having the camera, it's more a case of not having the time or the right opportunity. That said, I have a number of points identified in my GPS unit where I have noted some item of interest and if I'm in that area, I may check to see if the conditions are right. The shot I took and posted in the "Grounded" thread was such a case.

 

[limr]

This morning, I passed a red barn that I've been dying to get a good picture of. I pass it every day and it's really my own damn fault that I haven't actually set aside the time to photograph it. Well, the times that I did go, the light went away or something else interfered.

Anywho...this morning, there was this perfect morning low-angle winter light falling on the front of the barn...there was snow...there were four gorgeous horses. I even had a camera with me and a roll of film but the camera wasn't loaded. But I would have made myself late for work if I had stopped to take a few pictures.

The only thing I could do was to shake my fist and yell, "Whyyyyyyy?" and keep driving. But I'll get over it

 

[gsgary]

Walking round without a camera is good you get better at seeing shots

 

[table1349]

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.” ~Francis Bacon, The Essays

Opportunity is as scarce as oxygen; men fairly breathe it and do not know it. ~Doc Sane

Opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss. ~Author Unknown

 

[Kolia]

That's the main reason I bought the RX100. I can carry it everywhere.

Of course these days it's with my wife who's out of town... So I'm finding tons of missed opportunities !