Beat Yourself Up

Composition, composition, composition - if you don't beat yourself up, if you do not seek out the very best, then you're just a tourist. A TOURIST!
I wrestled for 20 minutes with this shot - 10mins to find them, longer to find the energy, nervously heading into lowlight, trying to find balance and spacing to these characterful trees. In the end the answer super-wide, just a few inches off the floor, kneeling on rock barely able to look through the viewfinder, the camera angled upwards.

1) Don't tether yourself to the head height tripod, because its convenient. Go through the decision making process with the camera in your hand and bring the tripod in to support your idea.
2) Swap hats from flamboyant artist to quality control! Become a miserable detail obsessed nightmare-to-be-around, tweaking the height, zoom, focal length until it cannot be more precise, more perfect (unless you use a chainsaw) or you're simply wasting your time. Perfection is the pass rate!  
3) Then, like a panther lying in wait, STRIKE at the optimum point, when the light is at its most evocative. Smile, mentally exhausted, giddy, lying in the dust, relieved but utterly satisfied at your hard work. Remind yourself that nothing worth achieving is ever easy, just like the walk back tripping over rocks in the dark. 

Forever called onwards by the desire to create - define and refine your vision - **This game is not about convenience**. It's about channelling fire and determination. You've been told - Now go shoot yourself a masterpiece!

Canon 6DIR, 16-35f4L IS @ 16mm f8 for 8secs, Breakthrough Polariser, lying on boulders and dirt.