When I go out to shoot some photos I usually have a rough plan of the shoot. I know where the sun is setting/rising and usually have a rough idea of what subjects I hope to find and the types of photos I hope to take. However, most of my favorite photos have been completely unplanned and involved a bit of luck. Hopefully you enjoy the story behind some of my favorite shots.
This is a photo I never planned or expected to take. I ventured out to try and photograph some meteors during the peak of the draconid meteor shower. After setting up my tripod and camera I noticed some red light in screen while I was focusing the lens but I didn't think much of it. Shortly after I set the camera to start shooting I got a notification saying there was high aurora activity and I realized what the red light was. I stopped at Trillium Lake and spent at least an hour watching and photographing the aurora. The colors and pillars were visible to the naked eye, but the camera catches more detail. I missed the aurora in May of 2024 and had been routinely monitoring aurora forecasts hoping it would come back so I could get this exact shot.
This is another photo I did not expect to take. My wife and I were visiting Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and did a short hike. I brought my short landscape lens with me and was hoping to find something interesting to make the subject of a landscape photo. It was the middle of the day with no clouds in the sky so my expectations were not very high. Luckily, I put my long lens in my backpack thinking to myself "might as well bring it, if I don't an eagle will land right in front of me and I'll miss the shot". I spotted this hawk sitting in a tree at almost eye level not too far away while we were hiking back to the car. I put my long lens on and shot from a variety of angles trying to get it facing me. This was tough because I wanted to stay on the trail. I have to thank my wife for pointing out this particular vantage point and after a bit of waiting it turned and looked right at me.
This shot was taken on the Kalalau trail on Kauai. This was a hike I wanted to do for years. My wife and I decided to visit Hawaii in December of 2023 and I marked my calendar to get a permit so we could do this hike and go past Hanakapi’ai Beach. I secured the permit, but not a parking reservation nor a shuttle reservation. Once we were there I realized we had no way to park and thought we wouldn't be able to do the hike. Luckily, my wife was able to obtain a last minute shuttle reservation for both of us. We showed up in atypical hiking clothing (Chacos and bathing suites) which ended up being appropriate clothing because it rained cats and dogs for 90% of the hike. This was taken during a brief dry moment.
This photo was taken after Bowie lost his vision. We have found the beach is a great place for a blind dog because there are not many obstacles for him to stumble over. Despite his disability he is still happy to go for a short run on the beach if there is a treat to be had. The golden light from the setting sun and expression of happiness on his face makes this one of my favorite photos.