Back in the old days when I first started taking pictures, photography actually involved a material called "film." You may have seen it... it came rolled in these cool little metal cylinders. Using this material involved a rather archaic skill known as "loading the film." This was often a difficult process which included snapping a few wasted shots of the ground.

I have always maintained that my best shots were taken when I wasn't really paying too much attention to what I was doing.

With the advent of auto focus lenses these "wasted" shots often turned out surprisingly in focus and occasionally well composed. My film would return from the processor with these insanely composed shots of my shoes juxtaposed against the deep sunset etched gravel of some lonely West Texas highway shoulder... or maybe dark silhouettes of utility pole tops contrasted against brillant blue of New Mexico skies. I even remember one classic shot, taken in the Pine Springs parking lot of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, featuring the rear bumper of Garry's Mercedes, Texas Sequicentennial tag clearly in view... trunk lid up, showing all our backpacking gear strewn around inside.

I miss these weird little unexpected shots.

This is one of those shots... taken with my digital while trying desperately to figure out why my flash wasn't firing.

Then... when I really started to look at it... I decided I kind of liked the texture... and the way the light falls across this rather odd shot of an innocuous piece of textured concrete.