So many of us improvise each day, and I’m definitely a person that improvises especially when the equipment I am using malfunctions. I have the oh shit moment before proceeding to try and concur the problem. For me recently my improvising was my camera gear; my main photography lens not working at the beginning of a horse event.
How did I overcome this? I have a smaller back up lens that I use for close up photos, (portraits, presentation photos stuff like that), but this small lens became my buddy for the day so I could take photos.
One of the first things I did was change my position, move closer to one of the obstacles that the horses had to pass through or jump, this made it easier for me to make sure the subject in my camera was focused and I had a clear picture.
2nd I moved around (making sure I stayed out of the way of the judge and the rider but also maintaining a safe distance).
3rd I made sure I adjusted to my surroundings for each candidate, whether that be lighting, saturation, how the horse and rider went through the obstacles etc. and editing my photos if needed!
4th I always chat to the competitors if they come up and ask questions, or are generally interested in how I got into the business. I am always having polite conversations with the many unique cool people that I meet, which are awesome. Some people did noticed my smaller lens and asked, so I told them the issue in short term it has decided it wants to be broken today, but I’m still capturing awesome images and all your wonderful smiles.
You can see in the subjects photographed in this article, how close I tried to get without interfering with them. I would say I was a good 100-200 feet away. The pictures are clear and focused which was my only goal with the macro lens I was using! Having one or two short goals on the day no matter if something goes wrong is always a great goal to have.
Overall it doesn’t matter what industry you work in, most days you will have to implement some form of improvisation into your routine.
Feature Image and Article Images courtesy of A and H Photography ©
– Guest Blogger Amylie May Hines.