Loosing the Side Effect.

I think one of the biggest mistakes young photographers make, (I was guilty of it) is to constantly try and put their own stamp on the images. When you have a dynamic person in your frame, you really just need to point the camera at your subject, (making sure exposure and all that is correct of course). This cute little flower girl is a great example. (I think she was somewhat overwhelmed with the hustling goings on during bride prep). You dont want to flub up a shot because your trying to get a cool composition or something creative. That is the interesting thing about photojournalism. Of all the fields of photography, it is the least concerned with composition, light, texture, etc. If that is there, fine, but its not the point. One of the oldest sayings in the profession is, "f8 and be there". That is referring to the fact that at f8, one a wide lens, you probably dont have to focus (lots of depth of field). So all you do is point the camera at what is happening. There-in lies the lesson. The photojournalism is about getting there, not in the making of the photo. It just so happens however, that photojournalists manage to pull off interesting composition and lighting in all the myriad of shooting, but always as a side effect, not the impetus for shooting. This may sound obvious, but it is a lesson that took me a while to learn.