4 times when a Hail Mary might be the right move
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A bee hops between blackberry flowers on a sunny day in North Tacoma. By holding the stem of the flower in one hand and camera (with a full-frame fisheye) in the other, I could adjust the composition quickly and blast frames whenever the bee appeared close. My slow noggin just couldn’t keep up. July 2014. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
More often than not, the ‘decisive moment’ doesn’t happen exactly where you want it. Sometimes the best angle is one that’s impossible to achieve with the camera to your eye – players huddling on a field, a crowd on a dance floor. For such occasions, there’s what’s known as a Hail Mary.
The Hail Mary takes its name from a long shot pass in American football, a low-percentage shot when there are no other options. It’s a last ditch effort, but you don’t have much to lose by trying. In photography, the Hail Mary is most often thought of as holding your DSLR far above your head and pointing it down toward your subject, but the term can apply to any shot you take with the camera away from your body, pressing the shutter button and hoping for the best.
Sure, cameras with tilting LCDs can give you an advantage nailing the shot, but especially when time is of the essence, sometimes the best you can do is point your lens in the right direction and pray.
Photojournalist Peter Haley has found himself in more than one situation that called for a shot from a tricky angle. Whether it’s for an unexpected angle of a familiar subject, or an effort to keep your distance, here are a few occasions that call for a long shot.
1. When body language would tip-off the subject
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I had seen her umbrella blow backward once, and thought it might happen again. I didn’t want her to see that I was focusing on her, so I walked in front of her, glancing over my shoulder, with the camera held down at my side and already pointed back toward her. When the umbrella blew, my camera was shooting even before I finished turning my own body around. January 2007. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
Says Haley, ‘If you don’t want a subject to notice that you’re taking photos, not pulling your camera up to your eye is helpful.’
1. When body language would tip-off the subject
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The photojournalism didn’t stop even during a break in a cramped bathroom at the King County Fair. July 1989. Photo and caption by Peter Haley
2. When your body would be in the way
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A largemouth bass is tossed back. For an interesting composition the camera needed to be against the stomach of the fisherman. No room for my body there. May 2008. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
‘A good angle is often from the point-of-view of the subject, so sometimes I hold the camera against the person’s chest where there’s no room for my body. Or the camera needs to move farther back, but I’m up against a wall, so I hold the camera flat against the wall.’
2. When your body would be in the way
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The Washington DOT avalanche crew at Snoqualmie Pass fires a 105mm recoilless rifle. Everyone must huddle close to the center of the length of the barrel to minimize the concussion. But the camera needed to be farther away, so I held it up in classic ‘Hail Mary’ position. February 1999. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
3. When you need to get lower, closer, or farther away
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The camera needed to be forward of the gun, but my own body didn’t. I suppose my hand took a slight risk. Note the usefulness of the dimly-lit pistol range and a slow shutter speed. January 2013. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
‘I don’t like to lay down on a wet beach if I don’t have to. I prefer to keep my body away from snarling dogs, even if the camera needs to be close with a wide angle lens. Or I don’t want to put my whole body close to the line of fire, so I’ll risk only a hand.’
3. When you need to get lower, closer, or farther away
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The teeth look better from close up with a wide angle, but I didn’t want to risk getting cut. So I held the camera at arm’s length. April 2010. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
4. When you need to move quickly
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I was standing below a cornice, off of which I expected some young skiers to jump, but I didn’t know exactly where. I was sure that it would be very close to where I was, so I was able to use a very wide lens. I needed all my peripheral vision in order to see as soon as possible where they were going to pop into view. I had only a fraction of a second to point the camera that way– not enough time to acquire sight through a viewfinder. November 2012. Photo and caption by Peter Haley.
‘Sometimes the camera needs to bob, weave and dip quickly to stay close to a moving subject. Keeping my eye attached to the viewfinder – which would necessitate my whole upper body to move with it – slows the camera’s movements too much, so I just move the camera at the end of my arm.’
Peter Haley grew up in Tacoma, studied science at UC Berkeley, but forged his career from a passion for photography. He’s shot for The News Tribune (Tacoma) since 1986.
Like all photographers, he’s won plenty of awards (photographers love contests), and his work has appeared in coffee-table photo books (A Day in the Life of…, etc). He has been embedded with the army in Iraq three times and Afghanistan once.
His favorite things to shoot: Live events. People doing ordinary things. No posed photos! Outside of family, his passions include skiing, and… well… more skiing.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)