There is a saying among photojournalists that’s called “f/8 and be there” that I discussed with a coworker earlier today. The expression means that the most important part of photojournalism is to capture clear photos and be somewhere where and when photos need to be captured.

As a photographer, I like to think of it as also “fate and be there” (if you kind of slur “eff eight”). I think of the phrase as embodying what it is to be a photographer: part fate, and part effort.

Good photography is rarely convenient, so you definitely have to have the gear and the drive to be there at the right moment to get the capture.

I left at six in the morning to capture Peggy’s Cove. However, when I took that shot, it was terribly overcast and the capture was not the picture I wanted to take. That’s the fate part: if I had come a day earlier, the photo would have been much more beautiful.

I’m continuing to explore photography as a hobby, and I’m very interested in how it’s affecting my life as a software developer.