Photo by Al Tielemans / Sports Illustrated

For anyone with quality gear and enough experience to have encountered the laymen masses out there in the world, the following sentence probably rings familiarity: “I bet that camera takes awesome photos huh!?”.  If you’re like me, your lip may quiver a bit before you shell out the diplomatic  response with a smile: “It sure gets the job done”.  Or perhaps you’ve been given some gem about the luck that is so frequently bestowed upon you in regards to your photography.

There is an idea that floats around the masses of new photographers, internet message boards, and those who aren’t familiar with the art that getting great and compelling photographs is about the gear you use and a large dose of luck.

Which do you think requires more luck? Catching a last second pass, dragging your toes in bounds, thus scoring the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, or capturing that moment with your camera thus landing the most important cover shot of your career?

I would hazard to guess that most people wouldn’t call what Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes did to win Super Bowl XXXVII luck. Nor would i argue that what Al Tielemans of Sports Illustrated was able to do on that play was the result of luck.

In a recent article Tielmans wrote for SportsShooter.com, he outlines why he was able to capture that photograph that most of us are so familiar with.  The image was the culmination of decades of experience, mounds of foresight, a healthy dose of instinct, and yeah, sure, a smidgen of luck.

Check out the article here