For me, photography is mostly about exploration and discovery.   I love to wander, especially in unfamiliar places, not knowing what lies over the next ridge.  Though sometimes there is much planning to be in a certain place at the right time, much of the process is happenstance and improvisation, not previsualization. Very often, the most significant discoveries are made during the journey rather than at the destination.  Planning creates opportunity.  What happens then is a mixture of luck, observation and realization of what’s before me, that there is something of significance and worth recording.

There is discovery in familiar places too.  It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how many times I visit the same places near home, there are things overlooked in past visits waiting to be discovered.   Natures ceaseless change presents a new landscape with every visit.  Changes happen from year to year, day to day, sometimes minute to minute.  A visit in the afternoon is different than a visit in the morning.

Photographer Gallan Rowell spoke of unexpected convergence, when several elements come together in an unexpected way, creating a new whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.  It may be finding a particular angle for a shot that creates a juxtaposition of several elements of a scene in the frame, or exploiting a particular angle or quality of  light, that results in a composition that presents something greater than just the components of the image.  At other times, an image can be very fleeting, just a few seconds as clouds move across a landscape, momentarily highlighting a subject to provide focus and propel it from the ordinary to the extraordinary.  Composition can also be a subtractive process, by finding a perspective that removes unnecessary elements that distract a viewer's focus, reducing a subject to its essence.  At other times, a little mystery can draw the viewer in to explore an image.  Something hinted at, but not obvious or shown.  Something beyond the door, around the corner, or obscured in the mist.