VISION: The Key Ingredient in Photography

I've lived around a military base most of my life and never really had an interest in the airplanes flying over my head until recently. I was cutting the fields behind my home and one of the planes flew directly over my head (I'm talking very low and turned sideways so you could see the silhouettes of the pilots against the bright blue sky). I thought, "wow, that would be a cool image". Then with the meteor showers being visible in the night sky recently, I got an idea. I thought, why don't I wait, camera in hand, for the plane to fly overhead and angle it where the moon is in the background. Every month there are days when the moon is visible during daylight hours, so fortunately for me, it happened to be that time of the month. I waited, and waited, and waited... Planes flew here, there, and everywhere but not in line with the moon. After several days of waiting and shooting, I thought, why not use the available technology to acheive my VISION. So I photographed the planes flying over, and the moon when it was it's largest. Then I used my best friend in creativity, PHOTOSHOP; two images, using blending modes, a tranformation, and wha-la, super cool image. Having a picture in your mind (VISION) of what you want before you take the image or create it, is the key in making great images... So the next time you pick up your camera, set it down, and think about what you want to capture/create, make a plan, then pick it back up and go out and make it happen. Enjoy...