I know nothing of Balazs Czako, but this is one of my favorite storm images of all time. His/her composition is perfect.  A “big sky” picture for a sky that is nasty. I love that one small lightning bold striking the ground. A small bolt in the context of this big sky picture is perfect. A well thought out picture with some instinct to capture that lightning.

Guy Tal continues to literally capture my imagination with his brilliant nature abstracts. I am not sure whether this is snow on ice, or snow on sand. That’s where our imagination comes in. He owns one of the best, and purest photographic points of view I have seen.  This image feels very fluid and heartfelt to me.

One of landscape artist Ian Plant’s favorite pictures (among his own) of the year 2014 is also one of mine. Look at just how simple the composition and the subject can be on a truly powerful picture. Amazing!  Perhaps a mixture of technique and emotion?

Mike Moats continues to be one of my (and everybody else’s) favorite macro photographers. Mike makes pictures that range from super close-ups, to small landscapes. You can use your own imagination with this beautiful ice picture.

I’ve approached photography two different ways most of my life. I did not use one practice until I exhausted it, I went back and forth.

I have been a strong believer of the method of careful thought. Using everything you know about photography, and slowly analyzing your subject and all of your options, can produce great images and will in fact give you the ultimate in success. That having been said, I would have never even considered making all of my images that way. It is important (I think) for every photographer to leave the realm of science and structure, and occasionally rely on emotion and instinct. Both methods can lead to success, and will leave you fulfilled. I lived for those moments when I reacted into the environment with my heart instead of “only” my intellect

Never say no to your head but never forget your heart.

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Have any of you who are on Facebook, ever made a comment on a photo, and I mean you typed it, you hit enter, and it posted perfectly, you re-read it and everything was right, and then ten minutes later, or maybe the next day, it was gone? This happens to me occasionally, whether I am commenting on my own post or someone else’s. Not all the time. I may have actually lost a friend, because it seemed as though anytime I commented on an image, the next day it had been removed. I didn’t de-friend this person, I just quit following them thinking that they must not want me commenting. Then it started happening occasionally with others. Oops!

After writing it, when I read the above paragraph, I couldn’t help but think about what has happened to my life, that what I do on Facebook, even matters to me. Sheesh!

Happy Trails,                                                                                                                                  Wayne