This is one I’m undecided on. Some of the images that I take I know are strong (at least compared to many others that I’ve taken,) but this one has me on the fence. I always seem to like it when I come across it, but I know it could be stronger, and really don’t know how others might see it. So, weigh in if you feel like it.
On a photo trip to Florida, I’d been driven indoors by the typical afternoon monsoon that can be found frequently in the summer months, and had considered various plans as I ate dinner in Fort Myers. Leaving the restaurant, I found the skies not only clearing, but the sun breaking through, and only a short ways down the road the sunset began turning colorful, so I started watching for some kind of foreground to go with it. Almost immediately I happened across a small boat launch area onto an inlet or river, and pulled in to use the water. The clouds played very nicely with the descending treeline, and I used that and the reflection to build an arrow across the frame.
Of course, if it pointed someplace, that might be better. Or if I’d caught a bird in the sky or the water. Or even just more dramatic clouds. You see why I’m on the fence?
If memory serves, this was actually taken on my birthday, since I remember being in the restaurant and someone else was celebrating a birthday there. I was traveling by myself, so you might imagine I was lonely or whatever, but I’d had a pretty productive day shooting (this image notwithstanding,) and that works just fine for me.