What Would You Do for the Shot?

Written by: Tiffany Joyce

I’ve seen some pictures out there that HAD to have put the photographer in a pretty precarious position in order to get the shot. I’ve seen cars rigged with all sorts of miscellaneous structural devices that place the camera outside of the car with the passenger holding a remote shutter release from the inside. I’ve seen footage of people hanging out of the open door of an airplane or helicopter, who would have fallen completely out if it weren’t for a safety harness or grasping hands holding them back.

I’ve heard of photographers spending days in transit, crossing thousands of miles, just to spend ONE HOUR photographing their subject. I know of other photographers who set up their gear and waited for hours and days, for the conditions to be just right for the shot they were looking for. There are photojournalists out there who constantly put themselves in harm’s way – be it from wildlife, war-torn countries, or other dangerous conditions – just to bring those aspects of life and reality back to us.

For me, I’ve traveled quite far in order to photograph things. Last summer my husband and I went on a road trip that lasted eleven days and three thousand miles, during which I got to photograph things I’ve always wanted – buffalo, the Grand Teton Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, the Aspen trees of Colorado. We never had to place ourselves in a particularly precarious manner – we pulled off the side of the road a few times to get a shot, and I wrangled with the tripod while cars went zipping past. In a couple of circumstances we were also quite close to the wildlife – a buffalo crossed the road very near to us, other buffalo herds grazed placidly alongside the roads, and a male and female moose grazed near a bridge. According to park rules and our own desire to let the creatures be, we NEVER pursued the animals or tried to get closer. Fortunately, that’s why God created telephoto lenses!

So, my question to our readers is this: what is the most extreme thing you’ve ever done to get the photo you desired? Tell us about your experiences in the comments!

Photo credits (in order of appearance):
- “Photographer by Photos8.com” by Photos8 on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “On the Rocks” by Kugelfish on Flickr Creative Commons.
- “Working Dolphin, K-Dog a Bottle Nose Dolphin leaps out of the water” by Beverly & Pack on Flickr Creative Commons.

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