On taking photos...

I try to think about things to learn or improve on after each time I take a bunch of photos (or anything really). This trip was PACKED with learning lessons (on not just taking photos... but EVERYTHING!).

Here is just one thing I want to remember and the photographic evidence of it...

PAY ATTENTION TO MY SURROUNDINGS!

Sometimes I get so focused on a photo that I want to capture and I forget to pay attention to what is going on around me or what's available to me around me.

For example...
While at the school I was with a group of girls in the playground area. I wanted to get a shot with the girls' faces circling around me. Unfortunately, I'm pretty much their same height so it was hard to really get enough above the girls faces.

Now, if I had taken time to "pay attention to my surroundings," I would have remembered that there was a bench just a few feet away (see it behind the girls??) and I could have easily gotten them above me and in a perfect circle.

URGH! URGH! URGH!
... and getting in the shot with them would have been a lot easier too!

Oh the lessons to learn! :)