Just a Little Patience …

As a photographer I struggle at times. I think every photographer does. We either get into a rut where we don’t want to look at the camera anymore, or we’re taking lots of photos but we’re not happy with the photographs we’re creating. The latter happened to me during the early part of the Ladakh photo trek I attended in September, led by Matt Brandon, his wife Alou and Piet Van den Eynde.

A few days into the trip, I sat down with Matt to do a photo review. This review was not limited to photos from the trip. The portfolio included prior work from New York City, Venice and some from home. But I did include a few photos from the early days of the trip as well.

What initially was meant to be a 20 or 30 minute discussion with one professional photographer giving me his opinion on my work turned into nearly two hours with three exceptional pro-photographers looking at my photos and giving me their honest opinions. It was fantastic! and exactly what I needed at the time.

I threw in the early photos from the trip (the last seven photos in the screen capture above) because at the time they were the best I had captured on the trip. Matt very rightly pointed out that the photographs that I included from the trip, with the exception of the one B&W photo, were far inferior to my prior work. He questioned why I even included them in the same portfolio, and we started discussing what was different? why was I not able to produce photos of the same quality in Ladakh?

As Matt and I were discussing the last few photographs, another great photographer and photo tour leader who was on the trip, Robert van Koesveld from Australia, joined in the discussion. Matt showed Robert the complete portfolio, and he was in agreement about how the quality of the images from the trip compared to my prior work. The three of us continued the discussion, exploring what was different. Piet also came over after Matt and Robert had left and we had a one-on-one discussion about my photographs.

The conclusion was that I was feeling pressured and rushed by the rest of the group. Not directly, but just by being in a group where everyone is getting in each others way and waiting for you to finish so they can get in to make some photos was creating an implied pressure to rush. The advice – get away from the group. Go off on my own and create my own photographs without the pressure of the group trying to photograph the same scene.

The next morning, while the group went back to the gompa (monastery), I decided to explore Lamayuru by myself. Lamayuru is built on the side of a mountain, so exploring the village requires a lot of up and down climbing, but it is well worth it to explore life in this beautiful town.

During my wandering, I found a stupa with stone steps leading beneath it. This is the first stupa I’ve seen that was not built on the ground. I knew there was a photograph here, so I started exploring, taking photos with different compositions to find the one I liked. Once I found it, it was just a matter of waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more for a person to come down those steps and complete my photograph.

Lamayuru is a small village and there isn’t a lot of foot traffic. I stood beside that stupa for 30 minutes waiting for someone, anyone, to walk down those steps. If a cow had come down those steps, I would have photographed the cow and been satisified.

Nobody was coming. I gave up. It was time to move on.

I started up the steps and just as I reached the other side of the stupa, there she was, coming down. The perfect subject to complete my photograph, a lady wearing typical Ladakhi clothing carrying a basket on her back.

I rushed back down the steps and returned to the spot where I had been standing for 30 minutes waiting for this to happen. It finally came together. The lady came down the steps, gave me the perfect look and I had one chance to make my photograph, the photograph on the right.

This is how I usually approach photography. I find a scene I like, find the composition I want and then if a living element is required I wait for it to come. Sometimes it happens in minutes, sometimes it takes longer. The key is patience. If the photograph is worth making then it is worth waiting for the last element to arrive.

I could have taken a photograph of the stupa without the lady (actually, I took several), and it would have been, ok, maybe, I guess. But the Ladakhi woman completes it.

For the rest of the trip I spent much more time away from the group. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the company of the group, but they were (unintentionally) interferring with me getting the best photographs I could. Without the pressure of the group I was able to slow down, relax and make photographs the way I do, and I created several photographs that I’m proud of.

This slower approach leads to fewer photographs, but I would rather come away with a small portfolio of photographs that I love than thousands of meh photos that will never go beyond my hard drive.