Luck

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” - Seneca

I’ve been learning how much preparation is required to get a truly outstanding landscape shot. There’s a level of time and effort that I never understood before, but now I see it in every shot that captures my eye in a gallery. Sure, sometimes you can just get lucky. But far more often I see the research involved; finding the best angle, the right light, tracking sunset and sunrise times, weather conditions, proper camera settings, the list goes on.

This particular shot is one I’ve been thinking about for a long time and the other day everything came together. As soon as I arrived at the location, Whitefish Lake State Park, I knew I had come at the right time. The way the light was interacting with the clouds on Big Mountain made me pause. As I set my tripod and took a few shots to dial in the settings, I heard the sound of a train rolling into frame. I snapped the first shot in a series I would later merge into the panorama and I knew it would be an outstanding landscape shot.