Location: Acadia National Park, Maine.

I'm learning that when I have a photographic subject in mind and, no matter what I try, it just isn't working I need to move on. That was the case this evening when attempting to photograph the sunset atop Cadillac Mountain.

But I hadn't learned this lesson yet so after spending most of the sunset in futility, I packed up my gear in frustration and began heading down the mountain thinking my time was wasted. Rounding a curve, my eye caught the light grazing off the waters around the islands. I parked willy nilly and found the shrub in the foreground, gray bark, contrasting red twigs, and the line of rocks pulling the scene together, leading me to the islands in the distance.