“Returning to a memorable place is so refreshing, but we should not dwell there. Life has so many new memories for us to make.” – Ed Lehming

I did want to revisit this place and moment one last time. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is one of those opportunities we need to take whenever possible. It was a peripheral image that I made time to experience and I continue to enjoy and am so glad I took the time to stop and capture it.

There is also the element of being able to realize it as close to what my vision of the image was. As I said, I have driven past this place many times and had a mental ‘snapshot’ of what it might look like. There was always the intention of stopping here the ‘next time’ I drove by and many of those opportunities went by.

So, when I finally stopped here, there was a bit of creative pressure to fulfil that mental image of what might be. I stood at the roadside running through the various compositions available to me, also keenly aware that the light was rapidly changing and that an opportunity might be lost.

Something I have learned over the past few years of photography is to be prepared for every opportunity that presents itself. I am now able, after many failures, to rapidly compose a shot and I know my gear well enough to set it up quickly for a successful image. That was the case this past weekend. I stopped, set up several shots, with various lenses and quickly captured the images before the light changed too much. Even in the span of a few minutes, the conditions change rapidly, light dimming and background clouds shifting form.

Of all the images I made in those few minutes, this one remains the most pleasing to me. I was very happy to be able to fulfil an image I had only, till that point, imagined.

Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 17-50 mm F2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical IF A1N6II @ 20mm
1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 200