Slow down, and make less mistakes!

Super quick tip today, which is probably nearly as applicable in the rest of your life as it is in photography. And that's benefiting from a phrase which I believe originated in military circles and that is: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

It's a reminder not to rush, and move more consciously and slowly. Doing things slowly means you'll probably do them better, and you're less likely to make mistakes, which will of course, end up taking longer, and may well cause other problems, and further compound the fact you’re short of time!

Photography has got a lot of moving parts, lots of complicated technical equipment, lots of software, lots of things to move around and set up. The opportunities are legion for getting things wrong!

This is particularly likely towards the end of a daylight shoot when the sun is almost dipping below the horizon and you find yourself running out of time.

That's when I find I tend to go into “hyperspeed” mode, start running around, and it's where I'm most likely to forget this phrase and dig myself a hole.

I had a shoot recently where I should have known better but didn't. I mounted a flash head and a brolly on top of a C stand, and placed lots of ballast on the bottom to keep it nice and stable. In my haste, I didn't lock the legs off properly and as I walked away from it, a gust of wind caught the umbrella, and over it went. All because I was racing around far too fast. 

Now the light's intact - It's a Profoto, so I could have parked my car on it, and it would still work. The brolly is not so intact and that's a bit annoying.

If I'd taken a bit more time, and slowed down there's no way that would have happened. I would just instinctively have made sure the stand was in the right place and set up properly. I wouldn't have caused myself an expensive repair (or more likely, an expensive replacement)!

So make a conscious effort to slow down when you know you're about to start rushing. Or better yet, look upstream. Think, okay, this is going to be a point in the day when I'm going to be a bit panicky, a bit rushed. So give yourself some breathing space when that time comes around. Be aware of it before it even kicks in. 

Remember, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.