Less is more: When enough is enough

Sometimes I’m in the field, camera on the tripod, in front of an amazing view. I take the shot. I wait, then take the same shot again. And again.

Should I take another one? Wait for the light? Try something else?

If I stop, the light might change. Sometimes it does. Maybe this place was hard to reach, and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I want to make the most of it, which makes stopping harder.

I look through the images. Mostly the same photograph. What am I waiting for now?

Many times I come home with more than a hundred photographs of the same composition. Then I spend more time choosing between small variations. A cloud moved a little, the light changed slightly. Which one do I keep?

They take up more storage, and I’m sitting at home wondering why I didn’t move on and try something else.

Taking more of the same image can mean more time in the field, more time choosing and editing at home, and very little difference in the photograph.

But waiting can be rewarding too. Sometimes the light does change, and the frame I waited for becomes the one I keep.

That’s what makes knowing when enough is enough so difficult, even after more than a decade.

Have you found yourself doing the same? Are you waiting because you can see something developing, or because you’re afraid to leave?