Right Time, Right Place

So much of photography, to me, is being in the right place at the right time. The most important issue, almost always, is light. I worked in a darkroom in Northridge, California, back in the mid-1980s, and I'll always remember Steve Moulton, the lab manager, telling me that "photography is light." Steve had studied photography at the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. He knew what he was talking about. At the same time, if you're not in the right place, with the right lighting -- and the right subject -- at the right time, you're not likely to achieve your photographic goal.

Lilly in the Light

This is Lilly, a dog I'm taking care of for three weeks in Northern California while a friend of mine travels in Eastern Europe. Lilly is an Australian Red border collie, and it's not surprising that her breed is known as the most intelligent. Lilly can count to five, speak on command, hold a biscuit on her nose and grab it out of the air, and she ALWAYS knows when you're about to leave the house without her. She's also a bit of an agent provocateur; she likes to run around the neighborhood and tease all the fenced-in dogs, then run on to the next house, reveling in her freedom.