If you're like me, you probably have pictures in your portfolio that represent turning points in your photography…pictures that taught you lessons or pointed you in a new direction. I've had a number of "learning" pictures along the way. I like to share a few of them with you and tell you what they taught me.

This first picture gave me three lessons for the price of one. A fast-moving thunderstorm came through the area and was followed by sections of bright sunlight poking through the clouds. I LOVE that look of sunlit areas set against dark skies, so I set out to shoot some pictures. I had seen this section of road a couple of weeks earlier and had made a mental note to myself at the time that it might make a suitable subject. This seemed like a good time to check that out. Sure enough, the wires along the road were lit up and shining against the dark storm clouds. This was lesson #1 from this picture: Always have a "go to" shooting area that you can get to fairly quickly.

I had taken several pictures when a car came through and hit a large puddle of water. It was just the little extra bit of "something" that the scene needed! So I got ready and waited for another car to hit the puddle. And I waited…and I waited…and I waited. The problem was that any car that came along the road by itself would drive around the puddle. I realized that I was going to have to wait until there were two cars…one in the right lane to hit the puddle and a second one in the left lane to keep it from driving around the puddle! Eventually, two cars DID come along. One hit the puddle and I got the picture I was after. That was lesson #2: Be patient and wait for that kicker that will make a picture different. I took a number of pictures of this scene that day, but to me, the thing that sets this shot apart from the others is the splash of water. It creates a triangular composition consisting of the phone lines, the backlit road, and the splash. Finally, if you'll notice in the picture, there's some camera shake. That was lesson #3: Even on a tripod with a sturdy head, shooting at 1/15th of a second with a 400mm lens will often still give you camera shake….darn it.

This second picture was one I took at Lake Hefner. I've always had mixed feelings about this picture. On the one hand, I like the concept of one non-conformist red flower standing in a sea of yellow flowers. But on the other hand, it's always seemed like such an obvious trick because of the unusually dark sky. The sky was very blank on this particular day and I had to stack up several graduated neutral density filters in order to tone down the sky sufficiently. It just looks unnatural to me.

The first time I ever got up the nerve to submit any of my photos for publication, I sorted out what I considered my best work and put them into two slides pages. The only problem was that I came up one slide short of filling the two pages. It seemed unprofessional to leave that one spot blank, so I went back to my pile of culls to pick the "best of the worst." This picture is the one I selected. From those two pages of slides, this one ended up being the most successful. It was used as a double-page spread in Oklahoma Today Magazine and was also chosen to be in a wildflower calendar. And to think that I came very close to not submitting it at all! The lesson I learned from this picture is: I'm not as smart as I think I am. Just because I like something doesn't automatically mean everyone else will like it. And maybe even more importantly, just because I dislike something doesn't mean everyone else will hate it, too.

This group of cactus blossoms was taken at the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. As is often the case in Oklahoma, there was a slight breeze that day that kept shaking the flower petals. It became apparent that I was going to have to wait for a lull in the breeze if I wanted the flowers to be sharp. There was a small herd of buffalo about a hundred yards away, but they seemed to have no interest me. So I sat down in the middle of the field and waited for that half-second of calm that I knew would eventually come along and allow me to take my photo. I had waited about 20-30 minutes, staring intently into the viewfinder, when I suddenly heard a loud snort that was extremely close! My head snapped up, fully expecting to find myself in the middle of a buffalo herd. Luckily, they were still about 20 yards away. What I learned from this picture is: Be aware of your surroundings. It's very easy to get caught up in the scene inside our viewfinders and lose track of the world around us. That has had deadly consequences for some photographers. Don't let it happen to you.

This picture isn't the actual photo that taught me a particular lesson, but it's one I had handy and a good illustration of the point. Oklahoma has some beautiful areas to it, but we've also got even more places that would be very scenic if it weren't for all the phone lines, billboards, and other background clutter. The lesson I learned from this picture and similar ones I was shooting during this period is: Fog can be your friend. It hides distracting background elements and adds mood to your photos. There's a soccer field somewhere at the end of that dam, but you can't see it in the picture.

This last photo is a portrait of my step-father that I've always liked. Normally, I don't take pictures of people, but on this particular day, I was sitting with my step-father inside the open door of his garage as he was working a garage sale. I liked the soft light from the doorway and how he was positioned in front of a self-portrait that my mother had drawn years earlier. I ran inside, got my camera, and came back out to snap this picture. The lesson I learned here was: Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone because you never know what you might find.

That's it…thanks for letting me share these fives steps of my photographic journey with you. I find that I continue to learn things today when I drop my preconceptions and really see what's around me. I'm hoping you'll find eye-openers of your own and share them with the club. Good luck!

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