Why I Take Photos Quickly And Why It Works

I take photos very quickly. Why? Truthfully, because I’m impatient. At least that’s how it started. Now it has become my way of working.

The shot doesn’t need to be perfect. The elements don’t need to be placed in one exact spot. They need to be alive. A pair of earrings placed randomly on a tray ; it works. Why? Because it’s natural. It’s real. So maybe it is perfect in the end.

I walk down the street and look around. I see a light, a poster, some street art ; I take the photo. No more thinking about it. Or is there?

That building looks great. But what do I see? What do I feel? What’s the mood in my bones?

I choose my position relative to the subject. I choose the angle. Maybe I feel the subject will work best from a contre-plongée, or from a straight point of view, or with a ray of sunshine shining behind a window. All these things create a mood. They give me a feeling. I have to be receptive to that when I go out to take photos.

Then it’s trial and error. Find the right angle, the right light. Maybe a pigeon flies through the frame ; even better. Quick. Snap. Done. In under a minute, the photo is taken.

But it’s not always that easy. Sometimes the subject is there, but it’s impossible to find the right angle. Something stops me from moving back far enough to capture the whole thing. Sometimes the weather isn’t right, or the light doesn’t reflect the mood I feel.

It can take 5, 10, 15, even 30 minutes, and it still doesn’t feel right. It starts to feel forced. The best thing to do is leave it. Come back another day with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

Maybe my head wasn’t in it. Maybe the landscape wasn’t right that day. Maybe both.

My point is: when I start overthinking, the photo stops being natural. It stops showing any feeling. It becomes forced ; almost like a postcard taken just to sell something. It stops being about art.

Just because I take photos quickly doesn’t mean there isn’t a thought process before, during, and after. Everyone works in a different way, and this is mine.

First the idea needs to germinate. Then I know where I’m going ; it’s precise, already thought through. Afterward, I study the result: what worked, what didn’t, and why.

I compare it to other shots. I edit my photos to really see on the screen what I saw when I looked at the landscape.

So all these photos you see ; they’re simply the way I see the world.

You don’t have to like it, as long as I do.

Photos: Agathe - instagram.com/rock'n'photographyy/