This year, I’ve spent a lot of time taking a critical look at my portfolio and considering compositions (and locations) that I want to revisit. I had a plan to have another go at a local place and a picture I took years ago.

I like this picture, but I wanted to try for a different perspective at the opposite time of day, sunrise instead of sunset. I felt it was a good plan for an outing, but nothing went right. When I got to the spot where I set up before, the view was obstructed by tall grass. As I walked around looking for a different place to shoot, I discovered that all the water had dried up, and the scene I had captured before was gone. I had a choice to make: I could give up on the outing and go home, or I could look for something different to shoot. I felt like I was falling into the trap of not picking up my camera enough this year like I did last year, so I decided to go back to the original spot and look for a more intimate image.

Using my 85mm lens, I got close up into the grass and concentrated on the lines and textures I was seeing. This cattail was catching the morning light nicely, so I focused on it and let the rest of the grass give me a background of soft vertical and horizontal lines.

The important lesson here is to stay flexible. Don’t give up and walk away from a scene just because the plan falls apart. If you’d like to walk along with me on this outing and hear some of my more “off-the-cuff” thoughts, then check the video below. My upcoming travel plans are to head to Yellowstone! Until next time, bye for now.