I am intrigued by textures, shapes and colour shifts in nature. Over time your environment changes and nothing stays the same. These leaves are in my garden and I watched them for 10 years. It’s a common plant actually, not one I like as its flowers are below the leaves. They are efficient spider and insect traps and anything else.

What is intriguing is the timespan when I first noticed the potential of an image to the day I actually grabbed something in my hand and pressed the shutter. You could argue its the ultimate from of procrastination. No arguing about that. But is it?

I often wonder how much your subconscious makes the final decision. As I see it, your little backburner sits and thinks the whole time. It never just sits, it thinks and compares. It compares each and every iteration of composition, colours, textures and forms that I saw over the years. The only time that these plants were perfect to photograph was deep in winter when we had rain for a couple of days (I am in a summer rainfall area, so winters are dry), and the leaves started to die off from disease.

I can imagine it happens with so many photographers. We all feel guilty not pressing the button. But what the critiques and compulsive snappers forget, is your vision is more important than just snapping away because you can. I would rather take one image, than 100 shitty ones. Don’t worry too much, if you don’t overthink things, just let the images come to you. If you see potential, let that potential grow. If you are too late, well, hopefully someone else got it. There are billions of other opportunities around you.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.