I can’t tell you how I know this, but if you have a very specific shot in mind – say a relatively empty parking lot at a fireworks stand so you can get photos of blurry people moving back and forth to buy bottle rockets or whatever – a much better idea is to go and get this shot on a night that is NOT the last night that the fireworks stands are open.

This is not the shot I wanted, but it’s the shot I got. Sometimes that’s the way it works. The important thing is that I tried. Right?

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 7.4.2025