Working on book projects focuses my visual energy – without that direction, I'm meandering, looking for anything that catches my eye. That can serve its purposes, but it's like looking at a colossal menu – too many choices. Where do you begin?

Here's a great example – there's an old outdoor mining museum in Jerome, Arizona. It offers limitless photo opps. I decided to focus on bathroom, and voila! A colorful Studebaker “posed” beneath the “Rest Room” sign. And the icing on the cake? Signs for “men” and “women” appeared in the frame. Since I shot it with a 10mm lens there was plenty of depth of field to keep both signs in clear focus.

Falling rain gave a sweet luster to the car. I got wet bringing the camera to ground level for perspective. I only mention this because many of my students have an irrational loathing of getting wet – they would likely get over this if a little water were the only thing in the way of capturing a stellar photo destined for a place in a book.