and searching for moments.
It is not enough to photograph the obviously picturesque.
Dorothea Lange
This quote really resonated with me. I think we are inundated with beautiful images and while I can appreciate that beauty, it takes far more than saturation to make me want to look twice or even remember that image.
We have had one of the rainiest months on record and it has taken some doing to watch for moments that isolate themselves from utter grayscapes.
Even the clouds have not been cooperative deigning only to show solid overcoats of smooth gray until this morning…
I am reminded of a book I’m reading whose main character is a photographer. She goes out to shoot a sunrise and takes 400 images. Unless you’re doing a startrail, timelapse, or shooting a burst for an action shot I can’t imagine why a person would want to take that many images of a single subject and then have to search through those later for the image that captures it. I would feel like I wasn’t really being present in that moment and looking beyond the obviously picturesque.
My question is just because it’s digital does that mean that we should be less thoughtful about the shots that we take? Would your photography improve if you treated it more like film?
it's (almost always) about the water... 
For a sunrise or sunset, I can see why your fictional character may have taken so many frames. The light is so fluid and ever-changing, each new second brings a new scene, repaints the canvas. I do agree, though, that constantly looking through the lens and concentrating on the making and the taking as much or more than on the subject matter represents a confounding paradox: drawn out by the beauty of the moment, we can easily forget the moment by the act of capturing it.
Agree completely about the changing light and maths not my strong point but thinking beyond that, even if you threw out 75% of the images what on earth would one want with 100 images of the same sunrise? Would you print them? But then I tend to deconstruct most everything so I would want to catch the first glow, first tiny bit of sun appearing, and then the full sun. 3 images, maybe a handful more because your settings would rapidly change and you might not nail them at first shot. I guess my editing starts before I make that first click. Thanks P, I enjoyed this exchange!
Dorothea Lange rocks! I was born in the south and one of her images reminds me of myself at two or three (though by the time I was that age I was back in RSA and far from Tennessee). Her quote perfectly illustrates your image. Worth the patience, S!
Thanks Jenny. Wouldn’t it have been amazing to have dinner with some of these iconic photographers!
I forgot where I read it but someone likened large format photography to fly fishing and 35 mm (and digital by extension) to trawling!
I love that analogy Eduardo. I have shot medium format but never large.
I would agree that I would take a lot fewer images, probably less than 100, watching would be the best part with some to capture the magic. I do think that the instant feedback on digital makes it easier to get a good shot though.
I think it potentially makes one a better photographer just by the speed of confirmation of settings, not having to wait until the film is developed to see if you were in the ballpark.