Shutter Sisters

meant to be

By

I took a few dozen shots of her that late afternoon. Effortless, expressive, fun; her. 99% of them didn’t look anything like this one. And even after adoring all the shots that really captured her lightness and ease, her playful spirit, it’s this single image that stays with me. 

It was the first shot I snapped before I checked my manual settings and it’s (obviously) about 3 stops underexposed. 

There’s no telling what magic can happen when we’re least prepared and not all all expecting it.

I’ll admit, I took it into Lightroom and thought that maybe a little processing might “correct” my mistake but nothing I did actually improved the image. This is exactly how the image needed to be. Underexposed and unaltered. Unapologic in every way. A rare gem. A true gift. Totally real.

Share with us a rare gem of yours. Maybe it came through calculated planning, by accident or by fate. Whatever the case may be we want to see your images, exactly how they were meant to be. 

Comments

  1. I love this image you have shared. It is powerful! I think images with dramatic light or exposure can be especially surprising to us as the creator, because it's so different from what our eyes saw at the time of capture. While that's often what I'm going for, what my eyes see, it's so much fun to be suprised too.

    Here is one of mine, where I saw an opportunity but the actual capture of it was so much more dramatic than I expected:: http://www.kateyeview.com/2010/04/beautifully-backlit-boy.html

  4. A powerful image indeed!

    I was out shooting last night without a tripod, and placed my camera on the little box fastened to the traffic light (with the button you press to get a green light for pedestrians) to shoot the still road. I got this beautiful sequence of starburst streetlights and a double green starburst from a traffic light. No idea how the latter happened, but I love it!
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/85057042@N00/5429142538/

  6. What a beautiful portrait! Those happy accidents are amazing…and certainly meant to be.
    Yesterday I was looking to find a little colour in the bleakness of winter and took some shots of marbles on my kitchen table. When I looked at them I thought the colour of the table took away from the experience of the colour of the marbles so I did a little selective colouring….the result was a nice pop of colour…that's how it was meant to be:

    http://pmaherphotography.blogspot.com/2011/02/losing-my-marbles.html

  9. for me, this photo sheds all pretense…it's like she's staring into my soul. and showing hers with such beautiful power. absolutely gorgeous, tracey.

  13. Here's my happy meant-to-be image. I didn't check my settings (so the front patch of sun is super bright), I didn't intend for it to be black and white (leftover setting from previous shots that I forgot to change), and the plaza was busy so getting a good composition was nearly impossible. I figured, what the heck – I'll just shoot something and hopefully capture the energy of the plaza. Instead, I caught two old friends out for a morning stroll. I love how the two old men are link arm-in-arm, something you don't see often here in the States. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniecourt/4797235040/

  15. So many beautiful, moody shots. Love the one of the boy looking up. Mine is similar:
    http://www.lightsandletters.com/storage/Pumpkins.jpeg

    I could not have planned this shot if I tried. Sometimes, you just have to be in the right spot at the right time. I think I had my ISO set to 3200 to capture the candle and ambient light. And most of the other shots I took were very blurry. This one just worked.

  24. I love 'meant to be' photography – in actual fact some of my best photos have been meant to bes…
    Brilliant shot. Glad you posted it. Thank you. ;o)

  27. You're right – this image stops you. She looks both fierce and at peace.

    Here's a recent capture of mine that NONE of my editing could help.
    http://wildfledged.tumblr.com/post/3205817417
    I had been frustrated because my vision while shooting (on the highest ISO possible to my chagrin- my usual sacrifice for being obsessed with mood lighting in the evenings in my home) was of a much sharper image, and I wanted to focus on her eye through the plant.
    It was cool when I saw the result, which captures her personality so well anyway- the constant halo of light that is the perimeter of those ears, which are enough to encompass her ENTIRE personality.
    She's like a little automatic negativity vacuum which constantly circulates the apartment, turning everybody's sadness into dust. I love these fluke images which prove that there are no real mistakes. 🙂

  28. I know nothing about photography but have decided its time to learn. I have just discovered blogosphere and am elated. I took this photo today and used it for my blog title. It evokes everything I was feeling today. Coziness indoors, new growth and hope, and blurred visions for the future. http://rileymadel.blogspot.com/

  35. i love happy accidents too! I was sitting in my car…sorta bored waiting for my daughters soccer game to start. i didn't want to wait out in the rain so i brought out my camera and took photos of the rain on my windshield. when i was home later…and dry!…i downloaded my photos and saw this…the upside down trees in the raindrops just blew me away!!

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/kathrynhansen/5307962978/