Subject

“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.”
– Paul Caponigro

I'm want to capture the epic panorama from a high vista and hand it in a small bundle to children like a single piece of candy from a bag.  If there is any one thing that can be a struggle in composing an image, for a landscape photographer with the whole world at his feet, it is to big a single thing from the mass of information and portray it within it's own power.  When my images get lost, it is often in their need for a specific subject to capture.  Whether that be a branch or a whole tree, a road or the countryside it meanders, getting to the correct subject to relay will dig to the root of of the image's purpose. 

Knowing the subject, we can encompass the mood.   From there, we find a composition and light to portray that mood.  Starting with the composition will only tell a small part of the story.