THE PORTRAIT THAT DIDN’T WORK -Sometimes the photograph you planned is not the photograph you need
There are moments during a shoot when I look at the back of the camera and think: Shit. This isn’t working. The light has changed. The weather is moving in. The idea that looked so good ten minutes ago suddenly doesn’t feel right anymore. And I think this is something photographers don’t talk about enough. Not every photograph works. Not every idea works. And sometimes the biggest mistake you can make is trying too hard to force it.
01 – The moment the plan changes
I remember a shoot in Schladming. We were photographing mountain sportswear. The weather was beautiful. Bright sunshine. The kind of conditions you immediately imagine when you think about outdoor sports photography. Everything was working. And then, halfway through the shoot, the weather changed. Suddenly the sun was gone. The mood changed. The conditions changed. And for a moment, there is that little thought: „What the hell do we do now?“ You could panic. You could try to recreate the light. You could fight against the weather. Or you could simply look at what is happening and ask a different question: „What can we do with this?“
02 – Don’t fight the situation.
We decided to go with it. The rain started. And instead of trying to hide from it, we photographed the rain jackets in the rain. Suddenly the weather wasn’t a problem anymore. It became part of the story. The rain was real. The conditions were real. The clothing suddenly made even more sense because it was actually being used for what it was designed for. And the photographs became much more interesting. Much more alive. They had something you simply couldn’t fake in a studio.
03 – Sometimes the wrong conditions are the right conditions.
That experience reminded me of something I have learned many times during my career: „The photograph you planned isn’t always the photograph you should make.“ You can have a moodboard. A perfect location. A beautiful model. A clear visual idea. And then reality does something completely different. The light moves. Someone is late. The wind changes. The weather turns. The energy isn’t right. And suddenly your original idea isn’t working anymore. That’s not necessarily failure. It is often the moment where the real creative work begins.
04 – Experience gives you another option.
I think this is one of the biggest differences between simply knowing photography and actually working with it for years. When something changes, you have somewhere to go. You don’t need to know exactly what the final photograph will look like. You just need to know how to keep looking. Move. Change the light. Change the direction. Change the idea. Or sometimes: „Change your expectations.“ Experience doesn’t mean that everything goes according to plan. It means you don’t panic when it doesn’t.
05 – Not every picture deserves to be saved.
There is another lesson I have learned over time. Sometimes a photograph simply doesn’t work. Not technically. Not emotionally. Not visually. And that’s okay. Maybe the light is beautiful, but it doesn’t fit the person. Maybe the location looks incredible, but the image feels empty. Maybe the idea was good on paper but doesn’t translate into a photograph. You can spend an hour trying to rescue something that was never meant to work. Or you can let it go. And look for the photograph that is actually there.
06 – The best part can happen after the plan fails.
That’s what happened in the alps. We didn’t get the sunny mountain sports campaign we had imagined. We got something else. Rain. Movement. Weather. Real conditions. And somehow, that made the images stronger. That is one of the things I love about photography. The camera doesn’t know what your moodboard looked like. The camera only sees what is actually in front of you. So eventually you have to decide: Do I keep fighting for the photograph I wanted? Or: Do I make the photograph that is happening right now?
07 – The portrait that didn’t work
Maybe that’s what a photograph that doesn’t work can teach you. Not every failed image is a failure. Sometimes it is simply information. It tells you: Not this. So you move. You change. You try again. And sometimes, when everything falls apart, something much better appears. You just have to be ready to notice it.
