perseverance makes the photographer
A few days ago, I found myself at a spot I had visited several times during the past few days. I knew there was an image there, and I was hoping that time would be the charm. It was.
As I was capturing the scene, a car stopped next to me. They got out with a camera, pressed the shutter a few times, and left. Just like that, they got the conditions I’d been chasing for days.
Anyone can get lucky. I have — many of my images were made by pure chance, by being at the right place, at the right moment.
Luck is very important in photography, at least outdoors — there are very few things we can control when we are out there. One of them is being there.
Photography is about seeking that luck, about putting yourself in situations where luck has no option but to find you. We will fail many, many times, before making our next good image. Every photographer must allow themselves to take bad photos. The good ones do! All of those failures only take us closer to that next breakthrough.
We need luck, and perseverance is the way to earn it. Luck is, after all, not a matter of luck — the more you try, the luckier you get.
Remember, there’s an image out there waiting for you to be made. It might not happen today, tomorrow, or even this month. But it will eventually happen. Who is to say that the next time you press the shutter won’t be the photograph of your life? All that is required of us is to be there to try it, so luck can find us.
new images
new videos
Some POV (Point of View) photography from my hometown in Galicia. Just a relaxing walk making some images.
The Bardenas Reales are the Spanish badlands. I’d been wanting to go there for a while, and I finally made it happen.
This newsletter, in video form…
sponsored by my wife… and by you
The reason I am able to do what I do, to dedicate myself to photography full-time, is my wife: her support (financial and emotional) makes all of this possible.
My photography is starting to make some money, a few years after I quit my day job. It’s going to take a bit longer, though, before I can pay the bills doing what I do. Some people have reached out asking for ways to support my work besides books and prints, and I didn’t have anywhere to send them for that. This changes now.
I opened a Patreon page where you can directly support my work. There are 4 tiers with different benefits, including shot-outs in my YouTube videos, 1:1 videocalls, and signed prints.
Check it all out here: my Patreon page.
A quick life update. I’m back home after a couple of weeks in the Pyrenees (many of the images in this newsletter were made there), but already planning my next trips: Asturias, Madeira, and La Mancha are all on my list for the next few weeks. Also, I’ve started working on a little book I’m hoping to release by the first half of 2022. Stay tuned!
Thank you all for being there another week.
Adrian
I am finding your video, still images and commentary very inspiring. Before an during a major photography trip I regularly carouse your web site and YouTube channel to help set the tone for me. It is you and Nick Carter that really have become part of my trip motivation and planning. I am always asking myself, why I want to photograph a particle scene, object, landscape or waterscape. Many times you have helped with the answer. Thank you.