If You See The Shot, Take The Shot - Now!

One of the things that I learned later in my photography career is that whenever you see an opportunity to take a shot, you need to do it then. How many times have you gone past something on the way to another thing and said to yourself, "I have to come back to shoot that!", only to never come back or worse, you go back and the lighting, scenery or your access to the location is no longer the same. There were many times where this very thing happened to me and it is one of the strongest reasons I always have a camera with me at all times. I'm not super happy with the quality or controls of camera phones, so at a minimum, I always have a proper camera with me - even if it only be something like a fixed lens compact (X100, Ricoh GR type thing), or even a small zoom type camera(Panasonic LX100 or Fuji X10 series). You never know what you might stumble across running to the market for a quick pickup of milk or bread, running down to the book store in a part of town you don't always get to or you happen to see something you don't normally see on your way home/to work. I have a standing agreement with my wife that if we are ever driving anywhere and I see something that I want to stop and photograph, that it is a done deal. PS - it's great to have a partner who is supportive of your impulses and sometimes whacked out creative thoughts/ideas. This image I captured on the way to work. I was sitting at a traffic light and in front of me was a utility truck with 2 muddy hand prints on the back doors. No camera and this great opportunity is lost forever.

I love old, abandoned buildings. Don't know why, but they scream to me to be photographed. I stumbled across this old feed mill as I was driving home from some shopping. I recently went back to check this place out again and found that vandals/thieves had gone in and stole a bunch of copper piping/wires and smashed windows. The building is now all boarded up and has lost that intimate quality you see in the image below.

This portrait of a man and his dog I took at a local park. One of a kind and I doubt that I would have ever seen this man again. The park this was taken in is about 30 minutes from my home and I do not go there very often.

Cabrillo National Cemetery in San Diego California. I had limited time at this location and the way that the lighting and everything fell into place was not guaranteed to happen again while I was there.

As a parting thought, I implore you to never let an opportunity to pass you by and have regret that you could have captured a great image, but didn't. You need not spend a ton of money on a camera, pick up something used and capable. Hell, I used my Nikon D50 up until last year. Small DSLR body, throw a fast 50 on it for a few hundred bucks or get a used early gen m43 or Fuji X camera. Doesn't matter what you get, but get something that you can keep with you and deploy into action.