Are You Feeling Lucky? Well Are Ya?
“Balance” Aiken, SC June 2022
Hello Friend,
I don’t know if there is another art form besides photography where people look at it, enjoy it, and then say something like, “You were so lucky to get that”. It must be part of the nature of the medium because time and timing are such import elements of the final artwork. Have you ever heard someone say, “You must have been so lucky to write that poem/essay/novel/song”? “You must have been lucky to create that painting.” I’m not talking about the “luck” people talk about when it comes to getting their work out there – like being lucky they got the deal to distribute their book, or movie or photograph. I’m talking more about the idea of how luck plays into the mindset of creating the piece of art.
I often bring up the idea of luck in my photo classes because of this. I always thought of luck more as a formula of when preparation meets opportunity. (Luck = Preparation + Opportunity) I wanted to get newer photographers to think beyond the idea that photographers just stumble around, snapping at everything, and sometimes things just fall into place. When in most cases, photographers actually spend a lot of time researching and planning their images. They don’t just happen to get a moon rise sitting perfectly on the top of something. They don’t just happen to stumble across a ghost orchid being pollinated. Yes, there is a level of luck involved that everything falls into place while the photographer is there. Things can still go wrong. The clouds can roll in, the animals you were expecting to be here are actually 2 miles away, … You then need to either pack it up everything and try again later or look for new opportunities that present themselves. I’ve heard so many stories of photographers planning something, getting to the place, the conditions being wrong for what they were planning, but “luckily” something else amazing happened. Because they were open to even new opportunities presenting themselves.
“Explorer 1” Aiken, SC January 2026
Though, recently I ran across the idea that there is more than one type of luck –that there are at least four. And it got me thinking how do they play into photography and art in general.
1) Dumb Luck/Blind Luck: Where you were born, who you were born to, things you cannot control.
2) Luck of Motion: Once you start moving, luck can happen to you. Like bumping into a friend while you are running an errand. Because you were doing one thing, you created an opportunity to have something else happen. A few example that come to mind. Say you are looking for a new job, you start telling your friends and family you would like a new job doing “X”. And then during one of those conversations the other person says, “Lucky you should say that. I just heard from another friend they need someone to do just that.” When I was looking to train for triathlons, I needed a road bike but didn’t want to spend money on a brand new one. I brought it up to a few people. One of my coworkers said, “Oh, funny, the husband of one of my friends is selling his road bike.” I still ride that same bike I bought from him. I was lucky I brought that up, right?
As many of you might know, I carry my camera with me almost every day when I go to work and often stop by the Carilina Bay. By doing this, I increase the chances I will “luck into” an interesting photo. (In fact, I think of most of my photos there this way.) For example, one morning this past January I stopped by when it was very cold here in South Carolina. My chances of finding an interesting photo went up because I thought there might be some ice. I luckily walked onto the observation deck to look around. I then saw what I thought was an interesting possibility of these frozen bubbles and a pine needle. I call the photo “Explorer I”, because to me it looks like a spaceship exploring some type of nebula. I didn’t know what I would find, but I hoped I would get a little lucky that morning. My chances of being lucky when up because I was out in motion.
“Only a Little Pass Interference” Salt Lake City, Utah 1994
3) Luck of Awareness: You become lucky because you become aware of what’s around you. Something might have always been there, but until you really noticed it, you didn’t know it was something you wanted or were looking for it in some other place. I heard someone describe this as two friends walking down the street. One is just looking at their phone, and the other is looking around. The one looking around notices a $20 bill on the sidewalk and picks it up. After showing it to his friend, the one on the phone say, “I’m never lucky to find money like that.” Luck is part of this, but also the element of just paying attention to the things around us.
One of the photos I consider myself very lucky to get, is the main shot on this post “Balance.” I was out walking my one-eyed dog Rogue one morning before work. As we were about to go into the house, I looked down at a small group of purple heart flowers in my front yard. I noticed a lot of dew drops on the leaves. After taking Rouge inside, I went back out with my camera and black posterboard. I was lucky I was walking my dog that direction that morning; lucky I looked down there; and I was also lucky I did not knock off any of the dew while I was setting up my camera and posterboard.
4) Luck of Uniqueness/Luck of Specialization: By being inside a certain world you are more likely to notice things about it that others might not. Or that you have specialized skills that when someone runs across your work, they want to buy it or hire you. This also factors into people who specialize in a type of animal or plant are more likely to understand the behaviors and environments that others might not pay attention to.
As I was thinking about this type of luck, my mind first went to wildlife photographers and sports photographers. These are people who spend a lot of time understanding their respective worlds so they can anticipate the most likely outcomes that would produce the best photos. The opportunities might not always come, or they could just as likely be unlucky and guess wrong.
While photographing football, it’s often a lot of what you might call “specialized luck.” While I was in Provo, UT, BYU was very much a passing offence. Which meant if I wanted a pass reception – or interference – I needed to be down field. If I wanted photos of the quarterback being pressured or sacked by the defense, I needed to be behind the line of scrimmage. As we all know, you can’t be in both places, or follow all the receivers, so you just make your best guess and hope that luck sends the ball your way, and you get the image in focus.
The other sports photo I’m sharing here is from boxing that I have almost no knowledge or interest in. But I did know that if I picked one of the boxer’s corners, I was likely to get some type of interaction between him and his trainer at some point. Did I know the one I picked would knock out the other guy right in the middle of the ring and then be right there facing me? Nope. I do remember moving a few feet to the left to make sure I did get both boxers in the frame. Was I lucky to get this image? You betcha!
“After the TKO” Augusta GA 2000
True I am using photography examples, but when thinking about others creative endeavors, can we think about the different types of luck and how we can get them to be more in our favor? I think about authors and songwriters who heard a small part of a conversation or saw some interaction on the street, and it sparked an idea. What about the luck of going to an art museum, reading a book watching a movie and running across a new type of art or idea that sets your work going in a whole new direction?
As the saying goes, “You gotta make your own luck.” Are there ways we can be a little more “in motion” to put ourselves in places where luck might happen? If we are a little more “aware” of the world around us, can we be more prepared to appreciate and take advantage of the lucky things that happen to us every day? Are there ways you are unique and specialized that allow you to recognize opportunities others might miss? Maybe we can also think about the ways we are distracted and dissuade luck – like the person on their phone – and the ways we look for and welcome luck – like the person being aware and “finding” $20 that their friend missed.
My challenge for this week is to think about the times you were “lucky”. Was it the universe dropping something on your lap out of nowhere? Or was it you working at something and then being aware you had a lucky opportunity to take advantage of?
Thank you, and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
April 2026