So many times we set out on a photography expedition….and sometimes the photos are great, sometimes not so great.

I’ve found though, that everytime I just take the camera out with me as we are observing life, I’m able to capture an image that I really like.

Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta

I took this image while walking through Centennial Olympic Park with my family last weekend.   We weren’t on a photo shoot or expedition, we simply had stopped at the CNN Center for a Starbucks and to browse around and my new son-in-law Mark said he’d like to see the park.  Whether it is a great image or not is up to you, but *I* love it.

The key to getting this image was that I had the camera with me!   I even happened to have my Sigma 12-24 with me which I used to capture this image.  There was a minor amount of post processing where I added some clarity to the clouds and deepened the blue in the sky.    I also enhanced the clarity of the trees and added some fill light and cropped the image to take out some distracting foreground, but for the most part, the image took itself!   Less than 5 minutes of processing and I have a picture that I’m going to frame and hang on the wall.

Another way to capture these types of images is to go on a photo walk.  Going out without a gameplan causes you to be an observer.   There is a series of videos on Kelby Training where Scott Kelby goes out for a day walking through the streets of New York City with famed photographer Jay Maisel.    WOW!   Some of the images they captured are incredible….and none of them were planned, none of them were “staged”.   I’m not an affiliate of kelbytraining and I make nothing if you buy from them, so this recommendation is from the heart.   You have to watch this session with Jay Maisel!

Here is another image I captured during that walk…but the one above is my favorite.   Obviously I didn’t take this one with the 12-24.   This one was taken with a Canon 70-200 IS F4.

Moral of the story…..  take your camera with you and go out and observe life!