“Just Shoot It Fox!”

For those who aren’t familiar with the quote above, it is from a video game arcade flight shooter called Star Fox 64 where a character named Peppy calls out to your character to “Just shoot it Fox!” during one of the boss battles  (on Aquas, I think) in the game. But what does this have to do with a blog about photography and design. First off, because I’m an avid video gamer and  as such, gaming influences my perspective on life while, furthermore, Star Fox 64 in particular (fully voiced) has amazing quotes applicable to almost every situation in life. And secondly, in photography, you sometimes simply need to “Just shoot it _______!” to get the perfect image right in front of you.

Far too often I find myself hesitating on taking certain shots that are clearly photogenic in my mind but become too bashful just before capturing them because the subject may have sighted me with that certain New Yorker look that says, “you better not take my picture.” Other times it’s my own preemptive fear of just receiving that “look” that holds me back. I blame my introverted personality for this. Yet every now and then I remind myself of that phrase, “just shoot it”, and break out of my shell. As long the consequences don’t seem too overwhelming,  whatever may be after the shutter will be, for I rather enjoy getting that one great image I was searching for than returning home with and regretting a bunch of mediocre images because I was too afraid to just shoot it.