The best shots we take are in our head

Apr 25, 2008 - 07:22 AM PST

So I know this may seem a little abstract but bear with me because I really think that it's true. What brought this on was when I was out match racing training the other day off Long Beach. We went out around 5pm and sailed for a couple of hours and as the sun was going down we headed back into the yacht club. I was pretty stoked because I had a really good session calling tactics on the boat that I was on and was perched on the boom watching the sun go down. It was a bloody awesome scene with a sunset that only smog engulfed southern California could produce a massive orb covered by a few streaky wisps of cloud descending over an oil island with a contrail from an aircraft directly above it going straight up **CLICK** I wish I had my camera with my right at that very moment but in hindsight I guess it could never have captured the full feeling of the moment. I've been bloody busy preparing for a conference the last few weeks and it was just awesome to get out there for a sail and I was feeling super content and this is where I finally get to my point, I really think that the shots that we take in our head are able to fully capture the scene as WE see it and is able to fully encompass all of our thoughts and emotions at that time.

There's been a few other times where I wish I had my camera with me. At more than a few times while I was sailing, when I was down to leeward trimming the jib in offshore races and you get a gust of wind and the boat heels over and you get a big wall of water coming to you and you get this massive rush of adrenaline **CLICK** or at other times when you're just hanging out with friends and you see one of them with the perfect expression that fully absolutely epitomises there personality **CLICK** I really think that it's the personal connection, the personal experience that really makes a photo special.

All of my photos that are up at the moment I think are so special to me because they have this really strong memory connection with a special time in my life.

One of my favourite shots is "O.L.P." which was taken at the top of the Empire State Building, I had been travelling around Europe alone for a couple of months and had just arrived in New York so of course I went to the ESB, I'd taken a few shot but nothing too spectacular and was just walking around the top taking in the view when I saw this pigeon. A little boy was standing next to me emploring his Dad to "please take a picture of the one legged pigeon, please" so I framed it up and shot it. As soon as I did the little boy turned to me with a big grin on his face and said "Did you just take a picture of the one legged pigeon?"..."Yeeeaahhhh".

Perth City is another favourite of mine because I took it just before I came over here. My brother and I have a tradition where every couple of weeks we go to the Oyster Bar on a Tuesday night for half price dozen oysters, it's a really good time for us to sit down, hang out and have a chat. About a week before I came over we had our last Oyster Bar session and I had my camera with me. Coming out of the restaurant after a few pints and seeing that scene in front of me really tugged at me so I got out the tripod and shot what I saw so I had a reminder of home.

Even if I didn't have my camera with me at these times though I still think the images would be burned into my memory along with how I was feeling at that stage so make sure that next time you don't have your camera with you, don't stress out because you've missed the perfect shot, just sit back take the scene in, bring together all the thoughts going on in your head and **CLICK**