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An unusually large portion of my best photos from 2008-- eight of 20-- were shot as "hail marys". In other words, I wasn't looking through the viewfinder when they were taken.
The classic "hail mary" is when the photog is in a crowd and can't see the subject well, so he or she holds the camera overhead and guesses where to point it. None of mine were taken in that kind of circumstance. Here are some other reasons to use some type of hail mary technique:
Need to get low
Even lying on the water-covered sand wouldn't have gotten me low enough for this shot-- to get the lowest possible angle with my wide lens, the camera was upside-down with the viewfinder only inches above the sand.
Lying down would've been possible here, but I wanted to shoot quickly and move on. No time for careful composition. This style is sometimes called a "hail mary from hell".
In the above shot the camera is being held upside down below the rim of the pool as I kneel at the edge. Sitting on the edge of the pool and looking through the viewfinder just would've been too high.
My body would be in the way
As the zookeeper clambered among the kids on the floor holding the cockroach close to their noses, I would've had to push kids out of my way to keep up with the zookeeper's hand, all the while sitting on the floor to look through the viewfinder. Instead I set the focus at about one foot, then held the camera at my arm's length, reaching it into the clusters of kids.
I knew my favorite angle would require the camera to be just behind and below the fish tosser's forearm, in front of the tosser's pelvis. So it would've been awkward to put my body approximately where the tosser's knees were.
My body is too slow
This was a hail mary because I can't run very fast while looking through the viewfinder, although I'd like to learn to do it. (We were actually stopped at this moment, but we had been running during most of the other hundred frames I shot of the kid and dog.) And since I was holding the camera at arm's length, I was able to get it closer to the fangs without risking a leg.
My body is a tip-off
This woman's umbrella had once previously blown inside-out, so I wanted to position myself in front of her and be ready in case it happened again. But I didn't want her to be aware of me in advance-- she might have a reaction to the camera. So I walked in front of her, facing mostly away from her while the camera was held out to my side already pointing backwards at her (since I can't hold it behind me with good aim). I walked, looking over my shoulder, ready to shoot even before my body would be able to turn fully around to face her.
I'm not sure why I shot this one hail-mary-style. It was shot from chest level with a tiny point-n-shoot camera which has a big bright viewing screen and no viewfinder, yet I didn't even look at the screen. Even if I had been "on duty" with the usual SLR, I probably would've shot without crouching and putting my face up to the camera. I suppose it's because I didn't want to get the attention of the little girl, and it's easy to compose the shot without even looking at the camera.
Another unusual thing about my faves from '08: six of them never made it into the paper. Hmmm....
