Lessons Learned: Details, Details...

When you're living in a world of landscapes and vistas, it's easy to overlook the miniature scenics right under your feet.

On my last day in Maine, the morning after the storm, I found myself atop Cadillac Mountain one last time. I took the prerequisite long shots out toward Blue Hill, back toward Trenton and overlooking Bar Harbor.

Then on my drive down, I checked out place I'd spotted on the drive up (but the tiny parking area was filled then) where bright red ground cover accented the ubiquitous granite and stunted pine landscape.

I could see a broad expanse of colorful stuff partway down the mountain, but to shoot it from roadside would have put it far away in backlighting, and I'd have lost much of the color. So I shouldered my backpack and headed down toward the scenery.

Here's just one of the mini-landscapes I found next to newly-formed rain puddles, which were surrounded by vibrant plantlife and reflected a blue, cloud speckled sky. I used the 20mm lens and tried a composition not unlike the first one in this gallery (Hancock Pond) with a bright red foreground subject, but this time the scenes was in miniature, showing the tiny surface of a puddle in place of the broad expanse of a full-sized pond.