EYESIGHT Sometimes, you miss it By Matthew Jonas • jonasm@mscd.edu

   Photojournalism is the art of capturing the moment. The most memorable images from the past 100 years have taken only fractions of a second to make.    As a photojournalist, you constantly have to have your eye open and your finger on the trigger. A great photojournalism instructor once said a camera does not make pictures with the lens cap on, but sometimes it does and we miss.
   Sometimes we miss the shot. The referee walks in front of the lens, a telephone pole appears to skewer a subject, you are out of focus, a flash does not fire, and sometimes you are “I.C.E.-ing” (in camera editing) when you should be shooting.
   The truth is, we don’t always capture the moment. Sometimes we miss. For as many times as a photographer captures a compelling image there are a greater amount of non-compelling images. Some photographers will spend the rest of their lives thinking about the picture they did not make. Not only is it creatively unhealthy, it is pointless. When it comes to editing, the photo is there or it is not. It’s that simple.
   If you did not get the picture, move on. Learn from your mistakes and make up for missing the shot with the next one. Don’t spend your time thinking about what you could have done. Chances are, if you are worried about missing the shot you probably already have.