49.4

One thing I committed myself to this summer was to arrive earlier at a locations, take more time to dial in comps, and then wait for the good light to unfold. All too often I’d grow impatient waiting for the light to come, so I’d start jumping around exploring for better (or for what often turned out to be the case – worse) comps. So I test drove this new goal this summer and soon found a couple things out: 1) I’ll always run late and will forever be sprinting down the trail to get in position (that’s just how I roll!), and 2) sometimes sitting on a comp is a fools errand, as the good light has a nasty habit of not showing up where you want it to. This shot illustrates this point clearly. For over thirty minutes I sat on a flower and mountain filled meadow comp as I begged the cloud and light gods to clear out gloriously over Reynold’s mountain. It never happened. What did happen were the skies kept clearing gloriously over my shoulder behind me. But I held steady, determined that my original comp would work if only I sat there a few more minutes. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any more and scrambled to cobble together a comp in the limited time I had before the show shut down. The light was good, the comp was at best passable. Now the only thing I can do is wonder what could have happened if I followed the light instead of entrenching myself in a battle of wills with mother nature…

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