Chaos — life is chaos. Every time that you think you can control it, you can’t. So often, we just need to be malleable and adapt. Mindfulness masters tell you to concentrate on what you can control and take contentment in that. But in photography, everything is chaos. And often, you have to mold yourself to things while also pushing back. You can think of it as being like water or air. The single best lesson about this, however, comes from street photography.
In his book How I Make Photographs, Joel Meyerowitz says “The street is chaos. If you’re comfortable in chaos, you’ll find your way.” And obviously, this means that you need to become comfortable in chaos. This is one of the reasons why so many photographers like to use the zone focus method, as it tends to keep them mostly aware of what’s happening a certain distance away from them. It means that they can manage a certain amount of chaos, which makes it overall easier for them. Sometimes a street photographer might run to a certain moment and put what’s in front of them within that zone. This, too, is a form of adapting to the chaos.
It also means that sometimes, you’re going to lose the shot. But you shouldn’t ever let that get you down. If you lose the shot, then a million others will be lining up behind that one. Does that mean that I’ve lost moments that I regret losing? Of course. Do I remember any of them? No. I don’t remember them because my mind is always searching for what I should photograph next. It puts me in-tune with the environment around me to look within the chaos.
These days, I like to think about it, like sometimes reading a book with pages that I’m holding in my hand. If I were reading an eBook, I could easily press Control+F to find something specific that I’m looking for. But instead, if I’m in a rush, then I speed-read and scan the lines for the specific part that I’m talking about. My father used to always read books with a pen in his hand, and he’d underline really good quotes or passages. I truly don’t know how often he then went back to those quotes, but if he ever did, then he could easily find those specific things he was searching for.
Street photography is like searching through a book for something without using Control + F. To that end, life, in general, is also like searching for things without using Control + F. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why people aren’t reading as much. However, reading mostly engages two senses: eyesight and touch. It’s nowhere near the sensory overload that mobile social media is. The equivalent then of making reading to be less chaotic is by reading smaller things like short stories and poetry. Eventually, you then start to find purpose, self, and the things that you’re looking for. In many ways, it’s a lot like zone focusing.
The real idea, then, is to bite off only what you can chew. You shouldn’t run across the street to get a photo unless you’re taking a calculated risk. We’ve all done this, but I’d never encourage you to go beyond your means.
Do what you can, and let the missed street photography moments go. Don’t let them haunt you 10 years later.