We all like to think that every great shot we’ve seen was perfectly setup and timed.  I think most photographers would agree that even with the best planning, luck is always a factor.  Maybe it was the wind picking up at the right moment with the right amount of gust that makes a model’s hair look perfect or having one image out of a series of action photos that ends up on the cover of a magazine.  Here are a couple of examples of luck factoring into a couple neat shots I’ve taken:

I was setting up to shoot my cat in my home studio.  I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to get a cat to sit and pose for just a second but during her movement I was able to capture this shot.  Even though I had the lighting and composition ready, it took the perfect moment in time to capture her, in my opinion, funny looking smile.  I laugh every time I see this shot.

If you’re a sports photographer, you’ll appreciate the spray and pray method I used for this shot.  Sometimes you’re in a crowd  and you’re trying to capture just about anything so the best you can do is hold up your camera above your head and just take a shot hoping to get something.  During a recent wedding, there was a large crowd of people going table to table during the toasting and it was a struggle to take a well composed shot.  At some point I had to raise the camera above my head and hope for the best.  I really liked how this shot came out with the focus point being on the foreground and creating a sense of movement.