The location of this photo is Price Lake on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. The lake has a trail that hugs the shoreline around the lake. If you take the walk when the Rhododendron are in bloom it is a very colorful stroll. When I saw this bloom I knew exactly the composition I wanted: the Rhododendron would be the focus of the shot, with the lake as a backdrop. I also wanted a canoe to be in the frame, but not be in sharp focus, because that would compromise the goal of highlighting the flower. Once I can composed the photo in my mind I just had to wait for a canoe to appear in exactly the right place in the frame. After waiting there for about 30 minutes, I finally had a canoe appear. I had previously set the camera for aperture priority, shutter speed was f/125 and Auto Exposure. I pointed the camera at the bloom, pressed the shutter button halfway down to get the auto focus on the bloom, moved the camera to the right to get the composition I planned, then pressed the shutter button down to get this shot. Lesson: middling skill coupled with perseverance can sometimes accomplish the desired results.
