It rarely ‘just happens’.

There’s a cadre of photographers out there which maintains that cell phone cameras are the ideal. The simple reason is that you always have your camera with you. Sure, the quality may not be the greatest, the controls limited or non-existent, the ergonomics could hardly be worse, but it beats the whopper DSLR and batch of lenses you leave at home because the whole thing is just too much to carry. Pro photographer Chase Jarvis is an advocate of cell phone cameras, and you can see some of his original iPhone work here.

Because I no longer have to wear a uniform, a.k.a. a suit, I find that my Panasonic G1 usually goes with me as often as not. Not as small as a cell phone, sure, but infinitely more capable and light and unobtrusive enough that it’s no chore to carry.

So next time you hear ‘lucky shot’, discount it. Chances are that the photographer didn’t so much get lucky but rather that he put himself in a position to capitalize on luck, and the only way to do that is to have a camera with you.

Here are some recent street snaps where I just ‘got lucky’.

Mini. Seventh Street.

Colored window frames. Sumner Street.

Albers Flour mural, Victoria Theater, Capp and 16th Street.

Sun. Caltrain Terminus, Fourth and Townsend Street.

White and black. Cable Car turntable, Market Street.

MOMA

Clarion Alley, Mission District.

“La Danse”, Clarion Alley, Mission District.

Eyeball, Market Street.

Fourth Street.

All snapped in San Francisco using the Panasonic G1 with the kit zoom, except for the one on Sumner Street where I used the 45-200mm Panny MFT zoom.

For those not familiar with the wonderful murals to be found throughout the Mission District in San Francisco, and most especially those on Clarion Alley, the story is writ large by the artists in the mural at the south-west end of the alley. The Mission District isn’t exactly Beverly Hills, but the art is well worth a visit. Just be sure to keep a low profile and avoid breathing what passes for air here.

Too bad about the graffiti. Who could disagree with the exhortation “Tag on a Bank, please. Don’t diss art.”