42+1

There are essentially four keys to being a great photojournalist.

1. Preparation
2. Observation
3. Concentration
4. Anticipation

A great photojournalist will build these skill sets with continuous practice. Ultimately, as a photographer, your timing will become better and those opportune shots will start to fill your portfolio.

This is true for the many types of photojournalists:

• The sports photographer
• The action photographer
• The wedding photojournalist

The better you know the event, whether it’s a hockey game or a wedding, the quicker your reflexes will become. This is where familiarity with your camera becomes key. The ability to change settings via nobs and buttons on the fly without thought frees you to observe your surroundings. Stop chimping! Concentrate on the events surrounding you watching as people and things move to create dynamic imagery. All of this will help you to anticipate what’s gonna happen next. It’s by learning those keys that you start to hone your instinct. The glue that binds it all together.

Instinct

Instinct is described as a natural intuitive power. Instinct is what really separates the good photojournalists from the great photojournalists. It’s that specialness you can see in their portfolios, that indescribable aw that can be felt when you view a photograph and internally ask yourself whether you could have really gotten that same image if you were there. Instinct.

The rider, in the image above, knows his bike like the back of his hand. He knows how much to push the turns, what his body can handle, how much he can lean in and when to throttle it back. The rider doesn’t “think” these things when he’s out on the course. He feels the course. He drives with instinct.

The photographer who took this great photograph? It’s the same. He knows how to capture speed and how to frame his subject. He knows when to use a fast shutter speed to freeze the action and when it’s appropriate to slow it down and pan the shot. This is his specialty and he knows his subject.

Think of instinct as an internal messaging system that triggers you to react. You have to trust yourself to translate input into reaction, analyzing what you see and are experiencing into the actual and critical moment you hit that shutter release.

Become a master of anticipation and timing. This all has to come with time and practice not just with that mechanical piece of hardware we call a camera, but with that wonderful muscle we call a brain. Or if you’d rather, your gut! Either way listen and trust your intuition so that you can react.

It is often said of the world of photojournalism “Do not think. Just react or it will be too late.”

Photograph 42+1 by gwgwgw.

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