I never lose. I either win, or learn.

— Nelson Mandela

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During the early days of my dabbling with photography, I was constantly on the road. Not travelling, I was too poor for it back then. Also, the college required a consistent 75% attendance each semester for whatever reason. No, I was on the road in The City of Lakes, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. I loved doing street photography. And each time I walked around the mildly crowded streets, I was on the lookout for interesting subjects. Trying to be quick, inconspicuous, and to be a storyteller through the lens.  

Needless to say, more often than not, I had the wrong gear with me those days. Sometimes I would find myself craving the reach of the zoom and sometimes, I was in dire lack of a wide angle lens. The afternoon of December 21, 2018 was one of the latter. 

I was alone, walking through the footpath along the beautiful upper lake. That’s when I saw this calm looking gentleman. He was focused on his sketchbook, carefully replicating the scene before him in monochrome. I pointed the camera at him, and looked through the viewfinder, only to realize that I couldn’t get him and the scenery together in a single frame. 

I had with me the 50mm prime lens, a fixed focal length lens, that wouldn’t allow me to zoom in or out. And I couldn’t get farther back since I was already standing by a wall behind me. And this is what I could capture. 

How would I do it differently today? 

Well, back then, I didn’t know how to create a panorama from multiple photos in Adobe Lightroom. And clicking a picture of the scene before me on mobile seemed like cheating too. After all, I was supposed to improve my craft with the tool, not use shortcuts. 

Now though, I feel like it wouldn’t have made a speck of a difference whether I clicked the picture on the phone. Whatever lets you capture the moment is the best tool in your bag. But I don’t regret having lost the surroundings of the frame. I don’t regret having not thought of an alternative way. I know that I understood something from this incident. Maybe a little late, but I did, and that is what matters the most.

Like the great Nelson Mandela said, “when you are exploring, you never lose. You either win or you learn.”