Have you ever noticed how some things in life just belong together? We gain energy for life’s exciting moments by taking time for physical and mental rest. We have hope for tomorrow because we are experiencing today. It is after a time of sorrow that joy is at its very sweetest. Pursuing the art of photography has taught me to appreciate another of life’s pairings and that is the calmness that can only come from practiced patience. As a photographer, I do a surprising amount of waiting and risk-taking. It is in the times where I have waited and let patience do its work that I have managed to catch God’s thirty seconds of perfect light, a beautiful angle on an uncontrolled subject, or an unexpected natural moment that no hasty shutter clicking could have created. It is this patience that gives me the calmness to trust when the moment arrives to snap the photo. It is patience that allows me to calmly break the unwritten rules of photography from time to time and receive the reward of an amazing photo such as this one. This photo was captured at Crosby Beach in Cape Cod Massachusetts. I had been shooting photos all week but still felt the call for one more great snap and so I stepped out into shallow water and waited. Then I waited some more. ‘Be patient,’ I told myself as I stood looking directly at the sun as it slipped down in the sky. A more immature version of myself would have grown frustrated, weary, taken whatever photo first came available, and called it good but at this moment it was patience that blessed me with the calmness to watch and wait. In my waiting, I felt a calmness, a sureness that has come from experience with a camera in hand and then finally the sun, the waves, and the sky all said “Now” and with that a photo I can’t take my eyes off of was created. This photo breaks a lot of rules in terms of lighting and spacing but after waiting patiently in the water for this very moment, I was able to calmly accept that some rules were made for breaking. This picture will always serve as a reminder to me of the way that patience and calmness can create for us opportunities we couldn’t have had any other way.