Thomas Fitzgerald Photography

I made it out first the first time in a few weeks the other day (I’ve been battling a bad chest infection) and as always I brought my camera with me. (My trusty D90 and 18-200 lens for anyone who is interested!) Having been cooped up inside for some time it was good to get some fresh air and it was good to get the feel of a viewfinder again. I hadn’t gone out specifically to photograph but some interesting things caught my eye. It got me thinking though. I realised that I have a particularly bad habit when it comes to being out and about with my camera. I have a tendency to see something interesting, but for some reason I won’t take my camera out to take the shot. Usually it’s because there’s some distracting element, or I think to myself, I’ll come back and get it later. But the words of a recent interview I saw with a well known photographer were ringing in my ear: “take a lot of photographs”. They had gone on to explain that they didn’t just mean, take lots of shots of different things, but to take lots of shots of the same thing. Try different angles, different framing. I realised that there was one more thing I could add to that. Take the damn shot to begin with. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. It’s still good practice.

Here’s an example. This isn’t a great shot because the bollard behind the bike is throwing off the composition. I could try and Photoshop it out but it’s a fairly complicated job and not really worth it. I could have just not taken the shot. After all, it’s not perfect and I’m sure lots of people online would be quick to point that out (using far less friendlier language) Instead though I decided to see what I could make of it.

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