Jock Elliott
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Troy, NY
It has come to my attention here at the Institute for the Codification of Photographic Behavior that some of the denizens here are puzzled by what happens to them photographically. I believe this is because they don’t understand Murphy’s Law.
It states: If anything can go wrong, it will.
There are two important corollaries to Murphy’s Law:
1. Even if anything can’t go wrong, it still will.
2. It will go wrong at the worst possible time in the worst possible place.
So what does this mean for photographers?
1. If you neglect to bring your camera because you are “just going out to the store for a minute,” the most astonishing thing imaginable will happen right before your eyes.
2. If you did bring your camera, and something astonishing occurs in front of you, you won’t have the right lens fitted. The right lens will likely be back in your car, your house, or your hotel room.
3. If you have a fixed lens camera, you won’t be able to “zoom with your feet” and/or the telephoto won’t be long enough or the wide angle won’t be wide enough.
4. If you have the right camera and lens for the situation, you will forget that you have left the camera in some peculiar mode, and you will find yourself photographing a spectacular sunrise or the Green Flash in the Caribbean in Sepia.
5. If you have the camera set in the right mode, the autofocus will begin zooming in and out like a trombone because you have unknowingly switched the camera into macro mode.
6. If you have the right camera, lens, mode and settings, someone will step in front of you at the Decisive Moment. If not, the battery indicator will suddenly begin blinking red.
7. If the battery is in good health, the camera will display a message asking you to decide parameters for an obscure function you have never seen and don’t understand. Whatever you do, the message won’t go away until you make a choice, and the choice you make will be wrong.
That will get you started with a basic understanding of Murphy’s Law for photographers. Feel free to chime in with your own observations.
Cheers, Jock
It states: If anything can go wrong, it will.
There are two important corollaries to Murphy’s Law:
1. Even if anything can’t go wrong, it still will.
2. It will go wrong at the worst possible time in the worst possible place.
So what does this mean for photographers?
1. If you neglect to bring your camera because you are “just going out to the store for a minute,” the most astonishing thing imaginable will happen right before your eyes.
2. If you did bring your camera, and something astonishing occurs in front of you, you won’t have the right lens fitted. The right lens will likely be back in your car, your house, or your hotel room.
3. If you have a fixed lens camera, you won’t be able to “zoom with your feet” and/or the telephoto won’t be long enough or the wide angle won’t be wide enough.
4. If you have the right camera and lens for the situation, you will forget that you have left the camera in some peculiar mode, and you will find yourself photographing a spectacular sunrise or the Green Flash in the Caribbean in Sepia.
5. If you have the camera set in the right mode, the autofocus will begin zooming in and out like a trombone because you have unknowingly switched the camera into macro mode.
6. If you have the right camera, lens, mode and settings, someone will step in front of you at the Decisive Moment. If not, the battery indicator will suddenly begin blinking red.
7. If the battery is in good health, the camera will display a message asking you to decide parameters for an obscure function you have never seen and don’t understand. Whatever you do, the message won’t go away until you make a choice, and the choice you make will be wrong.
That will get you started with a basic understanding of Murphy’s Law for photographers. Feel free to chime in with your own observations.
Cheers, Jock