The Cove

Leelanau, Michigan. Summer 2008
I never did find the driver of this classic car to thank him for parking under this sign.

I enjoyed my late lunch at the restaurant and spent a lot of time taking pictures from my table which was surrounded by flowers with a great view of the pier. There were kids running off the dock and jumping into the water, boats floating into harbor and laid-back tourists drinking beer on a random weekday afternoon. I spend a lot of time taking pictures that in my heart I am pretty sure will not amount to much like the dozens I took on this day before my meal arrived.

When I get a subject like this car, I know the picture will be better than most of the angles and creative things I try to do to make an ordinary shot look special. Like most things, if it is good, the picture can almost take itself. I guess the key is noticing that the picture is there. In this case I did have to walk around and see what I could get because the car is what caught my eye. I just needed a picture that captured where the car was because that had as much to do with it catching m eye as anything else. Climbing up behind the "Cove" sign seemed to make perfect sense. Five or six years ago I would not have thought to get this angle. And the crazy thing is that I likely missed an angle that with more photography experience I would not have missed. That is part of what I love about taking pictures. There is always more to learn and different ways to see it. I used to get jealous when I would see a cool picture that someone else took because I would wish that I had taken it. Now, from a different vantage point, I realize how stupid that mindset is. I like to look at pictures that challenge my creativity and help me see something different.