Years ago I heard an interview with a street photographer who talked about letting people walk into his shot. He would position the camera with the framing he wanted and then, as people walked through his frame, he would take the photo. I realized later that I often use this technique with birds when shooting sunrises at the beach. I get a tree or a rock lined up with the sun and then wait for a bird to fly through the frame. As you can’t count on birds to always do the right thing, the key is to pick a frame that’s in the vicinity of where they often fly – just as the street photographer would pick frames through which people often walked.
I’ve got an idea for a “come to me” photo that I’m hoping to try out this winter. There’s a parking lot near me where crows love to sit in the trees in large numbers. The leaves are gone now and I’ve seen some potential shots of the crows on the bare tree branches that could look very nice. My plan – on a day when the crows are numerous – is to find a really good set of branches, get framed up, and wait for a crow to enter the frame. BUT there’s a third element that complicates this further… I’d really like some dark, brooding clouds behind the frame.
Now, some might say, in this age of digital manipulation, that I just need a photo of the exact branches, a photo of a crow in a good pose, and a photo of the right clouds – then stick them together. But that’s so new school.
I’m waiting for everything to come together in real time.
Wish me luck!