If you take pictures for long enough, you learn one hard truth. The best moments almost never arrive when you are ready for them. They show up in the middle of something else, usually when you least expect it.
I was reminded of this last week by a photo from space.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and her crew had been told to shelter inside their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as a precaution, while two cosmonauts worked on an air leak on the International Space Station. Not exactly a relaxing afternoon. And right in the middle of that, a solar event lit up the sky below them.
Meir could have just sat there and waited for the all clear. Instead she reached for her camera and photographed the aurora as it snaked across the dark side of the Earth, green and red light moving directly beneath her. She even caught a timelapse video of it.
This is what she wrote afterward: “This one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show. I am in awe of this.”
That is the lesson, and it is one I have to relearn all the time. Being a photographer is not really about having the perfect gear or the perfect conditions. It is about being present, and being ready to act the second something special happens, even when the timing is terrible.
I think about all the cold, gray mornings I have spent in the water when nothing seemed to be happening, and then in one minute the light breaks and the whole ocean changes. If your camera is in the bag, the moment is already gone. You have to be there, awake, and willing to reach for it.
Meir was sheltering from a problem, and she still made something beautiful. That is the kind of photographer, and honestly the kind of person, I want to be.
Photos and timelapse video by NASA astronaut Jessica Meir. This story was first reported by Space.com.