Trusting Instincts in Photography
I had my latest photoshoot on Monday with Sara. Everything was planned—the locations, the mood board, the structure of the shoot. I had prepared everything to ensure that the process would flow seamlessly, reducing any uncertainty. The locations were already scouted, and the vision was clear.
But photography, at least the way I approach it, is never just about preparation. It’s about listening—to the light, to the environment, to that quiet inner voice that often knows more than the mind.
That morning, while sipping my tea and waiting for Sara to arrive, something shifted. I couldn’t explain why, but I had a strong feeling that the locations I had chosen wouldn’t work the way I had envisioned. It wasn’t doubt—it was intuition. A quiet pull toward something else. And then, almost out of nowhere, I remembered an aerial view I had seen on Google Maps. A gravel pit not far from my home, a place I had stumbled upon while searching for snow surfing spots. I hadn’t considered it before, but in that moment, it felt like the right choice.
When Sara arrived, I told her we were changing plans. Instead of the original locations, we were heading to that gravel pit. And it was worth it. What we found was unlike anything I had expected—gravel piles covered in fresh snow, sculpted by the wind, creating a landscape that looked like small mountains. It was stark, raw, and exactly what the shoot needed.
Intuition in photography isn’t about ignoring preparation—it’s about knowing when to let go of it. Planning gives you structure, but instinct leads you to discovery. There’s a point in every shoot where technical decisions fade into the background, and something else takes over. You direct the model, you compose the frame, but the real magic happens when you stop thinking and start feeling—when you trust that instinct to refine the shot, to make the image stronger than what you had initially imagined.
Some of my best images have come from this space—from moments when I let intuition guide me rather than controlling every detail. It’s about recognizing that photography isn’t just about looking—it’s about seeing. And sometimes, what you need to see isn’t on the plan. It’s in the moment, waiting for you to notice it.
