Many times it’s hard for “non-photographers” to understand the professional needs and demands involved in making a good photographic work. Something that at a first glance might seem excessively finicky or exaggerated might end up making the difference between a fair, a good or a great shot. Specifically on nature photography, knowing how to use the best light – in the early morning and late afternoon – is by far the most important factor. So, when you depend on other people to reach the place to be photographed, a little delay or some other unforeseen event might spoil your shoot for good. And a fact like this is what inspired the opening picture of this text.
On a previous post I made comments about how I feel when I’m out in the field on assignment, of the anxiety caused by the need of getting good images day after day. The deadlines are short and you’ve got a lot to photograph out there. When something doesn’t work as planned and I find myself inside a car in the middle of the road, while the golden light is ending, a sort of affliction hits me. After all, at that exact moment I should be in some natural scenery that does justice to the light, and not seeing the sun go down between cars and asphalt. Then, when things are making me really desperate, I start looking for anything worth photographing so that the moment isn’t completely lost. Usually these pictures turn out to be pure rubbish, but sometimes something nice comes out. And that’s how I saw the reflection of the sun in the rear view mirror and the reflection of the reflection in the car’s side window...
PS.: It’s worth mentioning that in the Pantanal and most of the Brazilian regions this special light lasts very short, as opposed to places located at higher latitudes. I noticed this very clearly while photographing in Germany during the winter, where the sun’s inclination tricked me and I caught myself photographing landscapes at 11 AM – a time of day that, in Brazil, I’d never dare trying to make some good outdoors shot.
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