The good from the bad
For other examples:
Ansel Adams p. 8
Martin Parr p. 18
Robert Capa p. 105
All the effort that went into capturing this shot paid off. The crew of Apollo 17 really nailed it. It’s a picture that comes without any excuses.
Great photographs don’t usually offer themselves up on a plate. You have to go that extra mile to capture them.
Such images often lie at the end of a patient wait, a steep climb, a long day on your feet or, in this case, a short trip into space.
But nothing’s guaranteed. Even after all the effort, sometimes you’re left with a shot that doesn’t quite cut it. A shot that does come with excuses like, ‘just before I took this the light was incredible.’ Or, ‘yeah, I know, but I was eating my lunch just as it poked its head out the hole.’
Shots with excuses – we’ve all taken them – require you to be tough with yourself. Just write them off as the ones that got away. Whatever you do, don’t let the sole fact that they were hard to get warp your idea of their quality.
NASA picture of the Earth
Apollo 17
1972