Gasp!

To be a successful wild life photographer takes a lot of skill and determination. There is also a large element of luck, being in the right place at the right time to get that elusive shot that no one else has managed. It requires patience, sometimes waiting at the same spot for hours if not days on end because you heard that your 'target' was seen in the area at this time before, so if you wait long enough you will get the shot you want. Becoming a successful bus photographer is no different. I am not talking about just sitting by the road and catching anything which just happens to pass by. I'm talking about tracking your prey, monitoring its movements, studying its behaviour so that you can anticipate its next move,so that ultimately you can be one stop ahead of it and get that elusive shot of the bus in its natural environment behaving exactly as it does in the wild. For that perfect shot that captures the essence of the bus itself.

To be a serious wild life photographer you have to learn not to get too involved. Sometimes you will get too attached to your subject and then when nature intervenes and predators come hunting you want to intervene and save your subject. of course you are a professional and you don't. Your aim is to capture wildlife in its true state - wild. For in that perfect shot, you, the photographer do not exist. If the subject is aware of your presence then even if you get a half decent photograph it just wont be 'true'. The picture will be soiled by the outside world, in this case, you. A truly serious wildlife photographer would not allow this to happen.  This is how it should be. As I said before, bus photography is no different.

So it is with a heavy heart that I give you this prime example of bus photographers 'soiling' their subject. They have committed the cardinal sin of interference with the subject in such a brazen upfront way, that an audible gasp can be heard from other bus photographers when they first come across it. Indeed, I myself gave out such a gasp this afternoon when I came across the subject in question. I quote:

Gasp!

See what I mean - I really did say that - its in quotes so it must be true.

Back in my day young bus photographers would never have done this. I am so jealous!

 

Well done to my young friends Louis and Tommy - Bus Fans from Plymstock!