Working towards preserving "the moment"

Yes, anyone can take a photograph. All you have to do is push a button, right? Well, not really. Thought, effort, creativity, and luck are only a few of the factors that go into making a "great" picture. Now I'm not saying the picture above is great, but I'm going to use it to illustrate the point that thought, effort, etc. go into making every memorable picture.

I took this photo about a week ago when I went to La Cigueña island, a small island that I had spent a total of thirty minutes on over the past year. I met most of the island's inhabitants for the first time on this visit. I know it's not every photographer's style to spend more time talking with their subjects than photographing them, but it is something I do - especially when I don't know my subjects very well. So, I spent most of my day meeting new folks and starting conversations. Of course, I took a few photos here and there, but I wasn't walking around snapping pictures left and right. I didn't have much of a choice about my conservative shooting in the first place since mostly everyone that was on the island was just relaxing; everyone else was out fishing. Over the last year I've come to learn that it's very hard to take pictures of people when they are just sitting about with nothing to do. What usually happens under these circumstances is that as soon as I raise my camera, the typical camera shy Solentinameño either turns away or adopts a completely unnatural expression.

Anyways, I had never met either of the men pictured above. Though I was able to speak with Dima (right) for a few minutes earlier in the day, I could tell that he still felt very apprehensive about the random white guy with the camera who decided to show up out of the blue (me). (Keep in mind that foreigners don't ever visit La Cigueña.) I hadn't, however, met or spoken with the other fellow until a few minutes before I took this picture and he also seemed skeptical about my presence. Thus, breaking the ice was essential. This is when I got lucky. A little boy I had taken a picture of earlier convinced the two hesitant men to join him for a picture, so, I snapped a few generic shots of the three of them awkwardly and rigidly standing about. Then, I asked them to go down to the water's edge so that I could take a picture of them by the boats. I took some more group portraits and showed them the pictures on my camera's LCD screen. They laughed and appreciated the pictures for a moment. The little boy left us to go play and I sat on a rock to chat with my new acquaintances, which is when the two guys reclined into natural, relaxed postures. That's when I realized that an interesting image was materializing in front of me. But how could I go about taking the picture without ruining the moment? I evaluated the situation. In order for me to get the angle I wanted I would have to get up and hop across a few large, partially submerged stones. So, as I spoke, I slowly stood up and began to make my way towards the furthest stone. I had to keep conversation flowing and act as though I was just aimlessly wandering about because I knew that I had to keep the men distracted from the fact that I was preparing to take their picture. Well, I managed to snap three quick frames. The picture above was the first frame. By the third frame, Dima had already shifted into an unnatural position and I no longer had a compelling image.

I've included a closer crop below of the original picture to provide a better view of the expressions and body language I was trying to preserve.