I feel most alive capturing candid moments. Good photographers have the advantage when shooting for clients with spontaneous-shooting budgets. Spontaneous-shooting budgets forces photographers to think on the spot when making images. On the upside, the more average photographers shoot, the better they come at making images. For me, shooting street photography / learning how to capture candid moments sharpened my shooting skills. In result, I am capable of making images that help my clients sell their products; thankfully.

Spontaneous photography requires filtering a large number of photographs to find the best moment(s) for editing. A good edit can make a “whatever-photo” look somewhat decent. Years of shooting “whatever-photos” to make rent, and pay a phone bill, made it easier for me to stumble upon a potential classic from a spontaneous.

What if we can go into a photoshoot knowing the image have a better chance at being potential masterpiece? Tyler Shields inspired my new direction / approach for making my images. If you don’t know much about the fine art photographer google him. I explore the web for inspiration and I am happy to have stumbled upon a video interview where he discussed being intentional with shooting. When Tyler showed a photograph that he made with only two snaps inspired me to become more of an intentional shooter. Tyler discussed the pre-production involved to making that process happen. There are a lot of steps to making a master piece with just a snap or two. You must be intentional.

How To Be Intentional With Shooting?

The answer is simple – In pre-production we must see exactly what we want the photograph to be in post-production. Somewhere in the mix of making photographs for bill paying clients, I lost my love for conceptual shooting. It is my fault. They say you get out what you put in. So, as expected, when I am photographing my personal work with a spontaneous / organic approach, I can’t expect anything more when shooting commercial work. Or can I?

No matter if I am doing a TuckerTookThat Portrait Shoot like the images displayed in this post, or if I am hired to make lifestyle campaign photographs for a brand the three stages of production is applied to make our images. The pre-production stage for my operation involves organizing call times, models, wardrobe, and other things needed to make the shoot go smoothly. Spending time sketching the exact photograph in pre-production will make better photographs.

Should I Stop Shooting Spontaneously?

I don’t think that we should stop being spontaneous-shooters. When you work with talent like I do, who sometimes / often are not “real models”, I am a believer in finding those magical candid moments. (You don’t have to be a model to look like one!)

As a photographer with an eye for greatness, I do see where there is mandatory room for being intentional with the images that will be produced.

Here is what I love about the shared photographs.

The photographs shared were made in Colorado earlier this summer. The more I visit Colorado, the more I fall in love with the natural light out there. We planned a TuckerTookThat Portrait session with minimal pre-production. Taking my travel and time to be spent there scouting locations was not an option for me. I knew what I wanted out of the shoot, a shoot like this is when being a spontaneous photographer help.

We were driving by this fence on the way to the shoot, I liked the way the light looked, I placed my Love Is Love hat by Absnce – Customs by Quonito on the top of the model’s head, adjusted the camera settings and photographed. The quality of these images right out of camera as only possible because moments before shooting these images I picked up a few CPL filters from Mike’s Camera Store.

Because the lady in front of the camera is not used to being photographed, I am happy that we took these quick snaps to get her a little comfortable in the front of the lens before we got to our location.

With all being said, I am not here to say stop being spontaneous photographers, I encourage it as much as I am encouraging you (and myself) to be a little more intentional with what we want out of the photographs to start creating masterpieces instead of classics on accident.

More important, keep on shooting, learning, and getting lucky!

TuckerTookThat | Summer 2022.
Photography by Photographer Dwayne Tucker

I just found out how to post this gallery here on the blog. Typically I have so many unseen photographs from my photoshoots. I want to share them all but it would be silly for me to flood my Instagram with all of these photographs.

More than just using this post as a photo dump. This blog post is to showcase the good ol’ saying, “teamwork, make the dream work!”

It will be much more of a bitch to do the things I do without a solid team on my sets. Sometimes I meet people for the first time and they plug right in, others have been working along with me for years. No matter the amount of time, I am always grateful when our energies come together to make great images.

Until next time!
Photographer Dwayne Tucker

In this recap, I am going to share how the fundamentals of golf and photography are similar, so you can improve your golfing and photography skills.

The Drop Zone’s podcast states, “9-hole golf is having a moment.” According to the podcast, the National Golf Foundation, “9 hole golf is up 15% in 2020.” Joby (the golfer in the photographs shown below) and I contribute to that percentage.

Joby’s contribution results from practicing; he is on his way to becoming a professional golfer. My shameless addiction to golfing created my contribution; I am not on my way to becoming a professional golfer. With that said, I’ll settle for being a professional photographer.

This quick 9-hole photo-story recap features Joby, while I practiced my skill set. As a result, we have better photographs for golf apparel lifestyle campaigns and portraits of golfers.

1. Practice and Preparation

Practice and preparation make life easier for golfers and photographers. In golf, practicing will grow your confidence in your game and prepare you for tournaments. On the other hand, practicing photography increases your confidence in capturing poses and trains you for paid photoshoots. As many professionals say, confidence helps you perform your best.

Recently, I received Birds Of Condor‘s new golf glove and Trap Golf‘s new hat to photograph. Those two companies are two amongst a number of new golf companies doing their part to grow the game of golf. Modern golfers appreciate trendy golf apparel, which these two companies bring to the golfing community.

Joby and I organized and photographed the images of these products while playing a quick 9 holes at Granda Golf Course in Coral Gables, Miami, Florida.

2. Understanding Your Equipment

If you want to improve your golfing or photography skills, understanding your equipment is important in making good shots.

For golfers, deciding and understanding when to hit driver is key. In the same vein, a photographer must know which particular lens to use and when.

This was Joby’s first time swinging his new Cobra King Forged MB golf clubs. Equipment for golf and photography is expensive. He was using KBS golf shafts (#SponsoredAd), and I was shooting with the Nikon 105mm lens (#SponsoredAD).

3. Developing Confidence

Preparation and practice develop confidence. Performing with confidence conditions you to accomplish more.

4. Detail Awareness and Observation of Elements

Many elements force a golfer and a photographer to keep alert.

Attention to little details makes a difference on a golfer’s scorecard. For example, that tee box was sandy; note the club’s reaction. Wind into the face? Pay attention to club selection.

Meanwhile, photographers should confirm their details are on point. Are you using the right shutter speed? How is the light falling on your subject? The importance of detail awareness and observation of elements could be a book on its own.

5. Appreciation of Good Light

Good lighting leads to good judgment, which creates good shots. We strive for those as photographers and golfers.

Determining distance becomes easier with good lighting as well.

For example, when hitting out of a bunker, you first look at the sand. Is it wet or fluffy? Then you confirm with the feel of your feet. Good light will determine the best shot.

Next to fast-rolling greens, golfers prefer a perfectly lit green for putting. No golfer enjoys putting in the shadows of slow greens.

6. Paying Attention to Composition/Course Management

I tell my students that good composition makes a photograph exemplary. It’s important to learn how to frame your subject. Does the photograph tell a better story on the left side of the frame or the right side of the frame? Balance is the essence of good composition.

In golf, composition compares to course management. Golfers compose shots when thinking about the golf ball placement. Is it better to hit an iron to avoid a hazard? Would you purposely place your ball in a flyer lie to get extra distance on a long par 5? Do you need to play a certain club to get your ball back in play? Asking these questions will improve your course management and help you play better golf.

7. Using Imagination

Creativity is one of the biggest similarities between golfers and photographers. Simply put—or putt—your imagination will polish up your shots.

8. The Creator of Good Stories.

This photo tells a story of the quick 9 holes played at Granda with my buddy, Joby. This golf story includes memories of how one got up and down out of the green-side bunker after kicking off the stick for what would have been a birdie. Photography and golf are creators of good stories.

Stories hold the memories. Memory is more important in photography for the number of photographs you take (see what I did there).

9. Remembering to Have Fun

In golf and photography, it is important to remember to have fun. You can not improve your golfing and photography skills otherwise. Our emotions become lost in trying to make good shots after bad shots. Bad shots are inevitable, and it’s frustrating to capture images out of focus. Arguably, it is more unsatisfying to miss a putt by a foot outside the wrong edge of a hole from lack of focus.

Regardless, golf and photography should be fun. Trust in all the similarities, as they’ll not only make you better golfers and better photographers, but also make you better people.

P.S. If you are a golfer and you take photographs of your rounds, please tag me on IG at @DwayneTucker. I want to see your golf photographs!