The way nature arranges itself can seem chaotic to us. Trees don't naturally grow in straight lines. Rocks don't tend to line themselves up with where we want them to. So when you get to a place such as Yosemite National Park we find trees and rocks everywhere. They can make it difficult to get a good image. One always seems to be in the way. Others don't seem balanced. What then are we to do to attempt to find a composition that creates order from the chaos? I found that the best way to deal with situations like this is to walk around. Be patient and just walk around. Look at things from different angles, perspectives, and distances.

          I arrived in Yosemite early, way before sunrise. But as usual, there were just too many trees in the way. I walked around, this way, that way, further down, higher up, and all over the place. I knew what I wanted but found it frustratingly difficult to find. Photography is not as easy as it seems. We often look at a nice image and mistakenly think that the photographer just walked up to the scene and clicked it. It usually does not work this way. On this morning I almost missed the sunrise because I just could not find what I knew I wanted. Be patient. Keep searching. Hurry if you must (remain safe). Eventually, I found the composition.

I found a clear shot of Half Dome with the sun peeking out next to it. Yet, I did not just want an image of Half Dome and the sun with no foreground. I wanted a foreground and I needed it to provide some much-needed color. This image combines both the foreground and the clear shot of Half Dome and the rising sun.

          We have a tree that frames the left side and a tree that frames the right side of the image. The trees on the right form a line that leads the viewer to the sun. The image seems orderly. We don't just have trees everywhere without rhyme or reason. Everything in the image works together. We avoided chaos.

          The next time you visit a scene like this keep looking and changing position and or lenses till you find what you are looking for. Try to get past the random chaotic placement of nature. Try to find order (unless your main purpose or subject is chaos). To illustrate how difficult this can be I need to tell you that I visited this same general area for five mornings running. I was getting out of bed at 4 am every morning. Hours were spent walking this way and that way. Eventually, I found what I was looking for and I really like the image. Hopefully, our efforts will pay off. We go the extra mile to get the extra smile.