PREVISUALIZATION - NOW THAT'S A BIG WORD! I first became aware of this concept through writings of a well known photographer, Ansel Adams. The concept is basically that you imagine the finished image before you make the exposure in the camera. I find myself thinking this way more than I'd admit to. My wife and I were driving out to the desert to look for wild horses. As I came down from the mountain pass into the valley I began to think about the sunset. It was hours away, but the smoke filled skies had me pondering. I knew we would be treated to the classic big round fireball that happens as the sun is filtered through all of the wildfire smoke in the air. The hard part was finding a good foreground to complete the image. I couldn't think of any exciting land forms in the immediate area, but my brain was churning in an effort to put the thoughts in my mind into an intriguing photograph. As our journey continued we were not successful in finding many mustangs. The desert was the greenest I'd ever seen it due to the rains we'd had during the weeks prior. Flowers were blooming along the sides of the road and we found a rather large lake where I'd never seen one before. I considered that for my foreground, but for whatever reason it didn't excite me. Finally we packed up and headed for home.

SEVERAL MILES DOWN THE ROAD, THERE IT WAS! A single horse standing on the west side of the road would be the foreground that would add the interest for what I had in mind. I didn't think twice and parked my truck on the side of the road. It would take me a minute or two to grab my gear and get it ready to shoot. I crossed the road and moved toward the horse so he would be in a good location with the sun to get what I wanted. The first problem was he started moving away from me. I didn't want to run because it would frighten him and make matters worse, but I did walk at a somewhat fast pace. Finally he stopped and turned around in the direction I needed. The next problem was camera height. photographing from my standing level put his head in vegetation; I didn't want that. I had to get down in a lower and awkward position to make the shot possible. Finally I needed him to give me a good head position and I got it to make the shot!