Tamera Lackey and Bruce Dale, two very accomplished photographers, presented samples of their work at the recent Odyssey of Light Seminar hosted by the Maryland Photography Alliance.  On the surface, the two are different photographers in different genres with different styles. Tamera shoots primarily portraits that are almost exclusively kids. Most of her pictures are made under controlled circumstances either in studio or on location with artificial light supplementing ambient light.  Bruce, as a National Geographic photographer, shoots in a variety of locations under different lighting with little flash and often under unknown circumstances.  Both photographers produce stunning images that are an inspiration to any other photographer.

Despite the apparent photographic differences between the two I noticed that they are both actually very similar in an important way that many successful people are across all disciplines; they both have a tremendous amount of persistence coupled with patience.  As each photographer told the stories behind the images presented, the common theme was always persistence in figuring out a way to solve a problem. The problem, in this case, is figuring out a way to tell a story in one photograph.  Patience came into play when inevitably the first, second, third, or farther down the line’s solution didn’t solve the problem.  Patience allowed persistence which allowed the solution.

As an example, National Geographic gave Bruce the assignment to create a photograph illustrating the earth’s fragile nature.  Through patience and persistence he designed a way to beam a laser through a crystal globe as it was being fractured by a bullet. He explained that it took many attempts to get everything timed correctly, and spent six million dollars to produce the shot. The resulting photograph became a hologram that ran on the cover of the magazine. Another time he was asked to tell the story of a jumbo jet’s flight as part of an article about air safety.  He devised a contraption that held multiple film cameras mounted to the tail of a plane that could be operated remotely from the cockpit.  FAA regulations almost stopped the shoot from taking place but patience and persistence enabled permission to be granted and the shoot was allowed to proceed.

Similarly, Tamera often needs patience when dealing with children in her shoots, and persistence to get the right expression. She would often shoot the same scene again and again until the right look was achieved. The tricky part was the interaction with the children so they did not get bored or frustrated by the repetition. Tamera’s patience with children really shines as she’s always upbeat, encouraging, and playful. Yelling “AGAIN!” in a fun way to a child makes them think it’s almost playtime during the shoot so they’re willing to continue an activity until the picture is achieved.

Both photographers at the seminar were inspiring for their photography, regardless of genre you prefer, but were also inspiring for how they went about solving problems. Problems were never solved by just acquiring new gear but by using persistence and patience with what was available at the time.