Last month, my friends and me decided to go on a bit of an adventure to capture images we wouldn't otherwise capture at home. The idea of our trip was to get up early and shoot as much scenery as we could throughout the course of the day. "We'll meet at the car say at 5:15am and head out to find a spot."

Yeeeeeah... I closed my eyes around 2:45am and was hitting the snooze button at 4am upset that my body hadn't gotten enough rest and also upset that I'd agreed to forgo a weekend of relaxation. In the past, I'd only risen this early to watch Manchester United play their matches; other than that, 4am is a sacred sleeping hour. I mean c'mon, who on earth is up taking pictures that early in the day?

Fast forward a few yawns, hours, and a Power Bar later, here we stood overlooking the ocean and storm taking place out at sea. Sometimes life has a way of saying, "Hold on buddy, just hang in there, I'll show you something worthwhile."

I've been shooting now for close to three years and I'd say within the last three months I've come into my own as a amateur picture taker. There's a humbling factor that takes place when you seek the wisdom of others who've lived behind a lens for twenty to thirty years. In the last three months, I've been told that I wasn't good enough and that I should gain better understanding of depths, composition, and subject matter. After all this time, I thought I sort of knew what I was doing so it was a bit hard to swallow my pride and listen to those who were more experienced.

The folks who are experienced are the very ones who are up at 5am tucked in a nook with their cameras, lenses, and thinking caps on, as they work their minds and eyes around whatever it is they're seeing.

On this particular day, I shot more than I expected to and I was alert to the transitions and life which was all around me! I mean c'mon... IF you're up at that ungodly hour, you best come away with something that makes you smile!