Framed Shots Camera Club

Waiting for Magic
By Raneil Antonio Ibay

“Isa’t kalahating araw na naghihintay ang traffic, isa’t kalahating oras na naghihintay ng magic (One and a half days of waiting for the traffic to move, one and a half hours of waiting for something magical to happen)”. So goes a line in Sandwich’s song “Jetlag”.

This is usually the case with us photographers. Waiting for the magic hour, waiting for that magic moment, waiting for something magical to happen. Always waiting.

Nothing wrong there as most of these times we are rewarded with some of our most fantastic images to put in our portfolios.

But sometimes we need to create that magic moment, to look for that shot. We can’t always wait for the “magic hour” or for the rain to stop before we start shooting. We need to take an active stand if we are going to be lucky to nail that “magical” shot. We all create our luck. The more we go out there and shoot, the more “lucky” we get. The more we practice, the “luckier” we get.

Practice. Now that’s another word I often encounter. Why do you think doctors and lawyers call their work “practice”? And for that matter, why do you think they get paid an awful amount of money for “practicing” on us? Maybe that’s just it, they practice a lot. They go out there and just do it and it makes them better doctors and lawyers.

Michael Jordan (do the kids out there know who he is?) or (let’s make this more relevant to these times) Kobe Bryant didn’t become an excellent basketball player by sitting on his behind waiting for his fairy godmother to bestow some magic upon him. He had to work. Really work hard and sweat it out on the court shooting hoops, working on his moves, learning more skills to be where he is now. No amount of hocus pocus or mumbo jumbo can replace plain hard work.

I guess that for something magical to happen in our photography, we first you have to master our craft and learn new tricks, second is to go out there and practice a lot and then while taking a breather, go practice some more.