Depends which way you look...

Dear Diary,

I went out to photograph Auntie's tree dripping with rain drops and discovered an interesting thing.  The leaves on the left side were the dark purple they usually are but when I looked on the right side they were a flaming red!  There was no sun shining on them, the sky was grey, but some trick of the light made them glow.

I have often found that by stepping a few feet right or left my whole perspective changes.  It is why I often make 4-5 images of the same thing from slightly different angles.  I remember back in 2005 when I made my first trip to the Outer Hebrides I had spent an hour photographing an ancient church.  I just couldn't seem to capture the proper feeling of it.  I walked back to the car park down a long path and at the last moment turned to make one last photograph of it and there it was...just the view I wanted!  (Extra)  Had I not looked back I would have missed it.

Since that experience I have come to realize that it is often when you completely change your viewpoint that you make your best photograph and it often happens when you have all but given up on your subject.  Auntie's tree reminded me of it today and of a great quote on seeing.


“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” - Max Planck