The SIA Brat Goes All The Way…

… to get the shot she wants that is!

Now now, get those naughty thoughts out of your head… Okay, to be fair, I set you up to think in that direction. But, that is the topic I’m going for, truly. I would go all the way to get a particular shot I want, how far would you go?

For me, as long as I don’t risk killing myself or someone else, I’d do whatever it takes to get the shot I have in my head. And I have no qualms about looking like an idiot or taking all the time in the world to get that perfect shot.

So how did this post come about?

Well, after posting the entry Challenge Accepted [Look Up, Look Down – Week 10] , I realised that for an amateur photographer, I really go all out to get a particular shot I want. While the outcome may not always turn out well, I still give it my all and try to achieve the look and angle that I was going for.

This is where I thank the heavens that I own a Canon 60D. Yay for flip screens! A must have for short photo bugs like me! (Side note to Canon: You can pay me for plugging your product now. Just an all expense paid RTW trip will suffice. =P)

Then I wondered, ‘I’m sure I’m not the only one insane enough to lie on the floor, crouch in a backbreaking position, or take up to 15 minutes just to get the shot I want’.

So I’m putting it out there now, who else is like me? A holiday perfectionist?. Come now, don’t be afraid to admit that you’re a perfectionist when it comes to your holiday photographs.

No one?

Well to put you at ease and to show how proud I am to showcase my silliness, here’s a rare shot taken of me, taking a photograph. Rare because few people think it necessary to take a photograph of someone else taking a photograph.

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These were taken when I was on a holiday with my mum in Barcelona. I think it took me about 5 to 10 minutes to get that shot just the way I like it. Do you think that shot was worth it? (Thank you mummy for taking this photograph of me lying on the steps!) My mum probably got bored waiting for me to get the shot or she thought I was crazy or that it was funny to show other people what she had to endure on holiday with me. I’ll have to ask my mum why one day.

What I remember is this… we were walking around Barcelona’s Barri Gòtic trying to look for Carrer del Bisbe Irurita and we got lost. But we did find many other interesting things to see while navigating the maze-like streets of the Gothic Quarter. And when I looked up, in this small courtyard we wandered into, the view of the four walls closing in on me really hit me hard.

I felt like a frog in a well. Like I was this tiny person, in this great big world. (Actually, that is a fact, but roll with me will ya?) I knew a whole world existed outside of these four walls, but whether it was good or bad or just satisfactory, I did not know. Yet still, I was excited and yearned to venture out to discover what lie beyond these four walls. Isn’t that what a traveller or explorer does? To boldly go where one has not gone before?

So I decided I need to capture how I felt, and what I saw in my mind’s eye. And that photograph is the outcome. Nothing awesome, and without context probably meaningless and ugly. But to me, it will always remind me of that moment in time, the way I felt, what I was thinking, and what I did to always remember that moment.

What do you think?
How far would or did you go to get the perfect shot you wanted? Do you have a photograph of yourself in weird positions with a camera in hand? What’s the oddest position you’ve been in to get a shot?