The Shooting Zone

"The Gathering," Huntington Beach, California
©2009 Chris Ragazzo (click to enlarge)
(captured with a 15 mm Canon L-Series lens)

This image should really be the "brand image" for this blog. I captured this while shooting the US Surf Open in Huntington Beach, California, last summer. I spent hours walking up and down the pier with my 15mm Canon lens, looking for just the right spot to capture this gathering of humans on a perfect summer day.

I finally settled on this angle because it allowed me to capture the curvature of Earth, and I liked the array of beach blankets more than I did at different points on the pier.

Let's face it, the fish-eye is a trippy lens if ever there was one. It warps the world, takes us just one step out of our plane of reality and probably reminds those of us who traveled the astral plane without an airplane that there are some days that are just a little brighter, a little funnier, a little more audibly heightened. Are you feelin' me? Yeah, you got it. Just one of "those" days.

Which leads me to "The Zone". What is the zone? I am NOT referring to Ansel Adams here. He has cornered the market on that exposure zone. No, I am talking about the head-space you get in when you shoot by yourself.

My partner in television, Luis, wanted to accompany me on this particular day and I politely declined to have an assistant. He still thinks I am full of crap, (I know he'll be reading this) but I tried to explain to him that when you are silent, when you allow yourself to descend into the shooting zone, that your senses will heighten, your vision will deepen, your awareness of the environment will awaken...and that, my friends, is exactly where you want to be when you're shooting.

Do I get in the zone every day? Not on your life. I would be lying if I said that I did. But, I have learned a few tricks on how to conjure it up after these many years of rubbing the genie's lamp.

Rule # 1: Go it alone. Resist the temptation to have friends tag along. Yes, it is more fun to have friends, but that is not what you are doing today. Today, you're shooting.

Rule # 2: Ask yourself, "What do I see?" Then ask, "How can I shoot this so that someone who is not here could see exactly what I am experiencing?" It's harder than it sounds...(and impossible, by the way).

Rule # 3: Don't move. Just stand there. It will reveal itself to you in time. Just stop moving. It's a little like those 3-D posters. It's going to get psychedelic. I promise.

Rule # 4: Ignore Rules # 1, 2 and 3. They work for me, but that might not be your process.

Keep Shootin'!