sports photography
Every once in a while, get out of your comfort zone
By nature, I am a quiet and shy person, but every now and then, there is a nagging feeling that keeps urging me to do something unusual, something wild and crazy. Something, that is totally against a...
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By nature, I am a quiet and shy person, but every now and then, there is a nagging feeling that keeps urging me to do something unusual, something wild and crazy. Something, that is totally against all the things I would normally do, something that would challenge me to go out of my comfort zone.
Do you know this feeling?
First, it feels like a summer breeze in your stomach, soft and cool. Then, the feeling starts to heat up a little, and it picks up on speed and starts whirling around. You still don’t know what it is, but you start noticing that there is something you can’t quite explain to yourself. Something you can’t control.
You start wondering, what it could be. You start analyzing, whether it’s something you’re excited about, or something you fear. It’s not clear.
Days could go by, even weeks, or months, without this feeling getting less intense. If anything, it gets even stronger, if you don’t act on it.
But how could you, You don’t even know what it is!
There comes a time, when you feel like you just can’t push it back anymore. By this time, this urging feeling has reached the size of a huge tornado, about to shake up everything around you. You get all dizzy.
But instead of fainting, which is what you would kind of expect, you feel an incredible clarity.
The winds have stopped, just like in the eye of a tornado, and your vision is as clear as it gets. And, even though you tremble inside, you know what you have to do. You feel like nothing will be able to hold you back at his moment.
Believe it or not, in my younger years, this resulted in me going skydiving, surfing, or river rafting.
Well, now I’m older, and as a mother of two, I can’t just drop out of planes, whenever this urging Call of the Wild shows up.
As a fine art photographer, I usually photograph romantic still life, beautifully styled, and in perfect lighting conditions.
Well, this time, I went completely out of my comfort zone.
I was invited to shoot an event, and on my way to the location, I drove by a motocross racing track, where some guys were practicing their amazing stunts. I had always loved watching them with admiration from a distance. But, today was different. My wild side was calling me, and before I knew what I was doing, I slowed down the car and turned towards the racing track. As my car stopped, I felt like in the eye of the storm. I KNEW what I wanted to do.
I grabbed my camera, jumped out of the car, and went straight up to a group of bikers chilling near the track. (Talk about being nervous! I would normally be much too shy to walk up to a group of men! Let alone speak to them!)
I’m not sure I heard every single one of my own words, as my heart was thumping so loudly, even they would have heard it, if it hadn’t been for the crazy noise, coming from the roaring motorcycles.
I knew, I only had ten minutes to do this, so I asked straight out, if I could take some pictures of them, as they were practicing. The response was cool, and matter-of-factly: «Sure, why not!»
One of the guys showed me where it was safe to stand close to the racing track.
Here I was, a romantic fine art photographer, on a sweltering, hot day. Trying desperately, to get my camera settings right, with a camera I had only just borrowed from my brother. Trying to focus on the motorbikes, as they were literally flying around me, leaving a thick cloud of dust in their wakes.
My mind was racing: fast shutter speed, focus, rule of thirds, exposure, ISO, my hands were shaking! Aren’t you supposed to avoid camera shake? How on earth? . . . my hands are shaaaaking!!!
Then, I thought, «What the heck. I’m here to enjoy this! I wanna see, if I can do this, and if the pictures aren’t any good, nobody will ever see them. I’ll be doing styled shoots tomorrow. I have nothing to lose.»
And, in the eye of the tornado, I took breathtaking images, I’m totally proud of! Almost all turned out sharp, artistically pleasing and totally cool! Just look at those guys, . . . dusty heroes! I have the utmost respect for their skills and their courage.
Would I do this again, absolutely! It was the best fun I had in a long time. And it showed me once again, what I was capable of doing, if I let the Call of the Wild lead me. The excitement, and the thrill accompanied me long after I had left the racing track, back to being a fine art photographer.
So, I dare you to go out of YOUR comfort zone once in a while.
Just do something you wouldn’t normally do. Use your camera in ways, you have never used it before. It will work with you, and make you proud of what YOU can achieve! Go out and do something crazy. Don’t hold back that feeling! If you do, you will be restless, and you will never know, what could have been!
Let your soul soar! And then, please come back here to tell me all about it! I’d love to hear YOUR story. Have courage, my friends!
See Ya,
Monika
And if you are wild enough to try the biking side of this adventure, turn to these guys; mx-academy.ch