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When I visit a place I’ve never been before I have to be careful not to look around until I’m ready to shoot. Lots of photographers make a point of scouting out the area before hand so they can plan their shots and do all the things they need to do technically before their image making begins. Things like making sure they have their lens caps off, or that they have a flash card in to record what they shoot or even to figure out where they are. Not me. When I take a picture on a bright sunny day and it turns out black I know I’ve left my lens cap on and I will immediately correct that condition. Now before you jump to conclusions and think that I’m making fun of these other guys just hold on a minute. I have the utmost respect for any other photographers’ style and if it works for them and it obviously does in many cases, then that’s great. With me everything is about seeing the new place with fresh eyes. Everything’s new and I take a jillion pictures while the new is still on bright and shiny and it is as if every view is a new picture exploding in my face and I can not take them fast enough. I’ve found that when I go back to that new, now old place I don’t see those things anymore in the same way and I have to work really hard to get new perspectives.

Mostly what makes an image isn’t the camera exclusively but the eye that looks through the view finder and the brain behind the eye that processes the information and tells the little finger on the shutter to press down. The difference between shooting styles is probably the size of the brain. In my case I have an enormous brain that just fits inside my head and is so closely packed in there that sometimes my eyes just bug out from the pressure. Its packed in there the way they  pack a grape into its peel. Tight. When my eyes bug out to a certain point I know I’ve processed enough information and that’s usually when I take the picture. So instead of the methodical, intellectual approach to making images you have the chaotic, gonzo, “whoa look at that!” “Holy Cow!” “Hey move!” kind of approach. Is one better than the other? I don’t know. I just know that I love going to new places and cataloging my first impressions. Maybe someday when my brain shrinks a little I’ll try that other way, but in the mean time would you mind moving over just a bit you’re blocking my view.