When You Want This,

But Are Given This.

What Do You Do?

Do you give up and go home? Or do you embrace it?

All too often we landscape photographers head out with rigid expectations of what we want to photograph and how we want to photograph it. So much so that we can be completely blind to other possibilities. If the light and conditions aren’t exactly as we hope for we’re lost.

Being so caught up in chasing what we want may mean we miss out and fail to make the most of what we’re given.

This leads to disappointment.

By opening our eyes and our minds to other possibilities, and not being so rigid when it comes to the photo you want to make, you’re much more likely to avoid that disappointment.

While standing on the side of the Mount Washington Auto Road just before sunrise a couple of weeks ago I had visions of dramatic clouds, and fiery sunrises. Then the clouds lowered, the mountainside became shrouded in mist, and sunrise came and went without so much as a spark.

Had I not been able to get past the fact I wasn’t going to get that fiery sunrise I had hoped for, it’s likely I may not have noticed that whenever the clouds would thin a little the mountain, road, and sky around me would become bathed in a gorgeous golden glow.

 Love The One You’re With.

No, I didn’t get the sunrise I had hoped for, but by having an open mind and a willingness to adapt to the conditions I was given, I was still able to come away with a photo I was very happy with.

Though I’m pretty sure he wasn’t singing about landscape photography, I think Stephen Stills had it right. 🙂