Intent (2 of 7)

“Hell is full of good intentions.”

Successful outings have all had one thing in common.  Intent.  All of them came down to intent. Almost all non-successful street photography outings were missing intent, or had bad things undermining intent, or had just bad intent.   Not intent like “I intend to take good photos”.  If it worked like that I’d get up and say “I intend to win the lotto” and you wouldn’t be reading this. Intend on going out and shooting.  Intend on going out and being out there. Intent means your mind and heart are in it.  That you want to do it.  When you’re out there, intend to be there and don’t focus on where or what you intend on doing next. Pre pandemic I got a great photo (my standards) of an elderly gentlemen cross a pedestrian bridge at local mall. Well framed. It seemed to be something he did repeatedly, not the typical wander around the mall walk. In my own weird way,  I wondered if he had caught covid and, er, you know, not uncaught it. Thought I’d never seem him again.  A couple of years later, I’m out, on foot, wandering around, but, not really into it. I had set time aside, and didn’t want to go out and shoot really, but really just didn’t want to do another thing more. So, just sort of there, trudging a long, mind not in it, and dude walks by across the street. Same outfit. Same stroll, though not on the pedestrian bridge because Horton is under construction. It wasn’t till I got home, hours later, the realization that shot came and went.  No gear, no perfect lighting, no great day of interaction, no walking with the best photographers you know will overcome lack of intent.