The Landscape Photographer's Habits of Mind

Keep an optimistic and playful mindfulness on your photography. Avoid expectations and rationalizations. Study and practice the photographic craft. Consider the following:

1. Don’t depend on nature's cooperation for your enjoyment. Sometimes weather, lighting or conditions don’t cooperate. Go with it.
2. Frequently I am disappointed with a shot on the evening after I made the image. A week or even a year later my opinion may change.
3. At the beginning of your day do a photo warmup. Take a dozen or more free-form shots to get in the photographic frame of mind.
4. Don’t fixate on one subject that you think is perfect. Take a bunch of shots from a few angles and at a few different exposures. Move on to something else.
5. Find a way to be stimulated at home. Use your camera any day of the week. When ideal conditions arrive, you will be prepared.
6. Ask yourself, “Is that what I saw?” not “Is that what my camera caught?” Bend the technology to your will, not the other way around. If your images don’t match your memory, figure out what technique, manipulation or technology will help you capture the image as you remember it. (HDR, panoramic, RAW, polarizer, lighting, whatever)
7. When you can identify a specific deficiency in your photographic output, seek out the solution to your problem. It might involve new equipment, workflow changes, or new skills.
8. Don’t stop taking pictures when it is overcast or when the “magic” hours are over. Focus your work on other subjects, use flash-lighting, work in the shade. Continue to learn throughout the day.
9. Experiment to gain familiarity with your equipment. When you can't be in the field, setup experiments to test the limits of your equipment.
10. Return to the same locations at different times of day and during different seasons. Your knowledge of the light, foliage, and weather will help you to eventually make a masterpiece.