Eloquent Images by Gary Hart
Insight, information, and inspiration for the inquisitive nature photographer
Chance and the prepared mind
Under the Rainbow, Colorado River, Grand Canyon
Sony a7R II
Sony/Zeiss 16-35 f4
1/60 second
F/11
ISO 100
“Chance favors only the prepared mind.” ~ Louis Pasteur
A few days ago someone on Facebook commented on my previous Grand Canyon rainbow image that getting “the” shot is more about luck than anything else. I had a good chuckle, but once I fully comprehended that this person was in fact serious, I actually felt a little sad for him. Since we tend to make choices that validate our version of reality, imagine going through life with that philosophy.
No one can deny that photography involves a great deal of luck, but each of us chooses our relationship with the fickle whims of chance, and I choose to embrace Louis Pasteur’s belief that chance favors the prepared mind. Ansel Adams was quite fond of repeating Pasteur’s quote; later Galen Rowell, and I’m sure many other photographers, embraced it to great success.
Double Rainbow, Yosemite Valley
As nature photographers, we must acknowledge the tremendous role chance plays in the conditions that rule the scenes we photograph, then do our best to maximize our odds for witnessing, in the best possible circumstances, whatever special something Mother Nature might toss in our direction. A rainbow over Safeway or the sewage treatment plant is still beautiful, but a rainbow above Yosemite Valley or the Grand Canyon is a lifetime memory (not to mention a beautiful photograph).
A few years ago, on a drive to Yosemite to meet clients for dinner (and to plan the next day’s tour), I saw conditions that told me a rainbow was possible. When I met the clients at the cafeteria, I suggested that we forget dinner and take a shot at a rainbow instead. With no guarantee, we raced our empty stomachs across Yosemite Valley, scaled some rocks behind Tunnel View, and sat in a downpour for about twenty minutes. Our reward? A double rainbow arcing across Yosemite Valley. Were we lucky? Absolutely. But it was no fluke that my clients and I were the only “lucky” ones out there that evening.
Before sunrise on a chilly May morning in 2011, my workshop group and I had the good fortune photograph a crescent moon splitting El Capitan and Half Dome from an often overlooked vista on the north side of the Merced River. Luck? What do you think? Well, I guess you could say that we were lucky that our alarms went off, and that the clouds stayed away that morning. But I knew at least a year in advance that a crescent moon would be rising in this part of the sky on this very morning, scheduled my spring workshop to include this date, then spent hours plotting all the location and timing options to determine where we should be for the moonrise.
Rising Crescent, El Capitan and Half Dome, Yosemite
I’d love to say that I sensed the potential for a rainbow over the Grand Canyon when I scheduled last month’s raft trip over a year ago, then hustled my group down the river for three days to be in this very position for the event. But I’m not quite that prescient. On the other hand, I did anticipate the potential for a rainbow a few hours earlier, scouted and planned my composition as soon as we arrived at camp, then called the rainbow’s arrival far enough in advance to allow people to get their gear, find a scene of their own, and set up before it arrived.
As I tried to make it clear in my previous post, anticipating these special moments in nature doesn’t require any real gifts—just a basic understanding of the natural phenomena you’d like to photograph, and a little effort to match your anticipated natural event (a rainbow, a moonrise, the Milky Way, or whatever) with your location of choice.
But to decide that photographing nature’s most special moments is mostly about luck is to pretty much limit your rainbows to the Safeways and sewage treatment plants of your everyday world. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve prepared for a special moment in nature, changed plans, lost sleep, driven many miles, skipped meals, and suffered in miserable conditions, all with nothing to show for my sacrifice. But just one success like a rainbow above the Grand Canyon is more than enough compensation for a thousand miserable failures. And here’s another secret: no matter how miserable I am getting to and waiting for my goal event, whether it happens or not, I absolutely love the anticipation, the just sitting out there fueled by the thought that it just might happen.
I do photo workshops
When chance meets preparation
(When the planning payed off)
Eloquent Images by Gary Hart 
“Luck Is What Happens When Preparation Meets Opportunity” – I think this old quote sums up photography well. Occasionally this equation is mostly opportunity and very little preparation (I do have a few shots like that), but usually preparation is the main key.
I also do wildlife photography, and that is an excellent example of the importance of preparation. Many of my “lucky” shots were because my camera was ready to go, allowing me to respond to an “opportunity” within a couple of seconds when the wildlife did something interesting. Without the preparation, the opportunity would have been long gone before the camera was even close to ready. While the timing for landscape photography is often (not always) at a slower pace not measured in seconds, the preparation is no less important.
Mr. Hart,
Mr. Hart are you still using Singh-ray filters,ND and the reverse ND filters, or are you using PS when you need it. You do really great stuff, please keep it coming.
Ron
Hey Gary, this is a really nice post of what it means to be successful in landscape photography. I grew up hunting in Wisconsin, and many of the aspects of hunting translate very well to landscape photography: Scouting, research, commitment, time, failure, missed chances, learning, success. Most people don’t have the faintest clue about what it means to capture a great image. Nor will they ever know the feeling of a “trophy” image. They’ll settle for “I was there” pics from their smart phone, and then drive on. Thanks for posting this commentary.
Outstanding, you really out did yourself this time. Just stunning