Cymek Perceived Power Corrupts Absolutely

The Photographer’s Bucket List

Feeling Free, originally uploaded by Craig Damlo.

I'm not sure if I have a photography "bucket list," but, if I did, the shot above would have been on it. I'm not sure what else would be on my list, and I'm also not sure if it's important to have a list written down. The real importance of the bucket list is to keep me out shooting and looking for "that shot."

When my wife and I (well, my wife, anyway) planned our trip to Hawaii this year, I said that the one thing I would love to get a shot of is a breaching humpback whale. I'm not sure if I actually expected to get one or not; I would have been happy to just see it, let alone photograph it. And, what luck we had on our whale watching tour! I lost count around 10 or so breaches, and I'm pretty sure we saw at least a dozen breaches. I didn't get that perfect photograph of the whale filling the frame with pixel-peeper perfect sharpness, but I guess that means I have a reason to continue shooting.