Summer Haze, photo by Harold Davis. View this photograph larger.

I went over to Indian Rock the other day to photograph sunset over the Golden Gate. Unfortunately, as I was setting up my tripod, the clamp fell apart. I was able to salvage the pieces, and saved them in a plastic baggie, but I couldn’t put the ball clamp back together while rushing to photograph sunset.

As I photographer (and backpacker, and parent, and…) I’ve learned to do the best I can with what I’ve got on hand. So this photo was captured handheld using the image stabilization feature of my 18-200mm Nikon lens.

A photo like this one works, or doesn’t work, depending on the gradation of light that it shows. The difference between a mundane image and one that resonates is subtle. So I say, three cheers for LAB color, which I used as part of my workflow in post-processing this capture.