Rituals and Intuition

5 Feb 2025

Ola reminded that it’s been 5 years since we saw each other. I wasn’t counting but I knew it was a few years ago. There was also distance living on opposite sides of the world. I had little faith that our paths would cross again - but yet here we are, on another shoot, another spontaneous moment.

As a photographer, there are a few things I do before a shoot. There’s planning, concept to mood boards, to scouting locations both google earthing and onsite, dates and time of day, outfit choices, camera bodies, lenses, flashes, to writing down each shot with with what body and lens combo with what emotion and movement works best and other photoshoot related choices. A few of these require back-and-forth discussions while others rely on experience and intuition. There is a plan.

However, you sometimes go off script and let the moment lead. You trust your gut, knowing it will work, even if it loosely follows the plan. It helps to know the person you are working with. And sometimes, the best moments happen when you abandon the plan entirely and just let the magic unfold.