The longer you shoot, the more you get used to things like this, these “happy accidents.” Photos where the thing that makes it work the most (or at least one of them) was completely unplanned. It happens more often than one would think. For all the control you try to exert on your shoot, making sure that everything — the gear, the location, the talent, the lighting, the timing, everything — is exactly as it needs to be, randomness always manages to creep in.

I’ve been trying to convince my mom to replace the rotting cherry tree on the front lawn with an evergreen. Then she could just dress it every Christmas and not have to slaughter an innocent tree.

It’s amazing how much can happen in just a week. The tree has lost so much of its foliage in so short a time. I find it hilarious, though, that all the other trees have been bare for so long, and this one tree is holding on as much as it can.