Notice that readiness, preparedness, and anticipation are like a dependent chain. When ‘it all comes together’ you can 
get a natural, candid image of real-life that can seem like a professionally set-up picture.
Some years ago I was lodging in the guest-house at Tsinghua University in Beijing. One evening I took a stroll outside the rear boundary of the campus and came upon a little street carnival being enjoyed by, apparently, the lower-middle class locals. From a distance, I saw a tea vendor pouring tea from the most enormous teapot I had ever seen; it made for a good photograph. How, though, to get close enough for a candid without his becoming aware of me, clearly a non-local?
In my experience, persons can often be flattered or surprised when they see a camera pointed at them and their expression either becomes self-conscious and artificial, or they may suddenly wear a foolish grin, or stare straight into the camera with a surprised expression. I wanted to catch a natural photograph of this man pouring tea for a customer. I had no friend with me whom I could ask to buy some tea after I set myself up. I got to the desired distance from the vendor but stayed within the milling crowd on the footpath and surreptitiously readied my camera and flash so that all I would have to do would be to point and shoot. I kept myself concealed in the throng until I saw someone go up to the vendor to buy some tea.
There was no guesswork in this shot, I knew what the vendor would do sooner or later, all I had to do was wait. At the right moment, I stepped away from the cluster of persons and into the street, raised my camera and composed the shot in a moment and snapped the shutter. Neither the vendor nor his assistants knew a photographer had been watching him until the flash went off. Because I was fully ready, prepared, and anticipating the shot and had the time to do so, I got just about the right camera angle, shooting distance, and composition (note the white edges of this uncropped image) that one could want.
When you encounter a situation in which you know that a particular scene is going to be played out, you’re lucky right there! Don’t rush it. Smoothly and quietly prepare yourself to the full Ð choose your EV, shooting distance, focal length, angle; whatever, while realizing and respecting the time limitations you are working with. Above all; as for every instantaneous shoot-from-the-hip situation; do not lose yourself in the technicalities and end up missing the moment.
