Sometimes I do just happen to be in the right place at the right time, and in all my years of shooting, no place has found me in the right place at the right time more than coastlines and roadside ditches.

Other than the wide-open sky, there is no larger or emptier canvas than a large stretch of sandy beach at low tide. There is room for hundreds to practice their craft, and no shortage of props, either. Feathers, seashells, pebbles, small rocks, and seaweed are yours for the arranging. And if not for a flat tire years ago, I would never have grown to appreciate the abundance of great material found in roadside ditches, where a smorgasbord of grasses and wildflowers, from minuscule to large blooms, are, again, yours for the making and taking. Best of all, the pressure to be quick with your shots rarely exists in sites like these, since they also offer tremendous quiet and solitude.

Here I placed a feather atop a large rock and then placed my camera and 105mm macro lens on my tripod. I set my aperture to f/16, then adjusted my shutter speed until 1/30 sec. indicated a correct exposure.

Nikon D300S with 105mm macro lens, tripod, f/16 for 1/30 sec., ISO 100