Some photographers will carefully time their arrival at locations so the light is just right, the sun at precisely the perfect angle, and then they get (they allege) The Perfect Image. (And if there’s a cloud they don’t like, they’ll wait until it leaves. Or maybe they’ll wait a few short hours in case a better cloud comes along.)

I am not that sort of photographer. For one thing, I am typically on the move (at an average travel speed of 18 miles per hour*, so my “move” is sometimes almost imperceptible). For another thing, I usually don’t even know exactly where I will be, which is a big hindrance to plotting things in advance. And, finally, I just don’t want to.

So maybe I’m missing out on The Perfect Image every time I’m out. But on the other hand, even without knowing there’d be a beautiful cemetery off the main road in Funks Grove, Illinois, and with no prior knowledge that on this day this exact tree would be in bloom, and with absolutely no knowledge of sun angles (past the part that, yep, there’s gonna be angles), I think I did ok.

Funks Grove, Illinois
July 2, 2022

*”Covered wagons travel faster than you do.” -actual comment from my friend Claudette.