While exploring Kona’s Hapuna Beach in 2019, I was looking for a scene that really inspired me. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the beach, and found this spot where it transitioned back to natural rock and trees, that I found what I was looking for. I loved the meeting of sand, rock, trees, ocean, and sky with the moon setting on the horizon. And yet I have also long struggled with this photo and feeling like it was not ready for sharing.

Last year on a trip to Hawaii, I took a nice morning walk along a trail between Hapuna and Kaunaoa beaches. I was looking for sunrise light, but I slightly overslept and just missed blue hour, getting golden hour instead. The bright sun was already harsh, and there wasn’t a lot of morning color in the sky on the western coast of the Big Island. But after walking for a bit, I discovered this wonderful view of trees, water, ocean, and clouds from a vantage point above the Pacific. I loved the orientation of the trees and how the light and shadows fell between the trail, the inlet, and the trees themselves.

In 2013, when I was still living in Massachusetts, my mother came to visit to see the fall color. There were a lot of options for places to go, and after some research we picked out New Hampshire’s Kancamagus highway, a route that is world renowned for its fall foliage. We drove up together, along with my dogs, and decided on a hike to Champney Falls along the way.

When my company had a team trip to the Grand Tetons in 2016, I was super excited for the opportunity to see an incredibly beautiful mountain range. One of the activities we could choose was an early morning animal photography experience, where hypothetically we would get to see some of Wyoming’s extraordinary wildlife up close. This event turned out to be kind of a bust – we mostly stayed in a bus and drove around looking for wildlife. And while we got to see some animals here and there, it was tough taking great photos from a bus by the side of the road.