In 1987 I drove up from Richmond, Virginia, to Rock Port, Maine, to attend a photography workshop. I was able to stop along the way and take some fun tourist photos of the country. This first photo is of Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse, Maine.

I was looking for this photo on my last trip to Bangor, Maine, last week. However, this was more than two hours away from Bangor, so I decided to go to Bar Harbor and take some photos there.

I was pleased with some of the photos but was still disappointed I couldn’t get a lighthouse.

In 1988 I decided to take another Northeast vacation and visited Cape Cod. Highland Lighthouse, located on Cape Cod, is one of 4 lighthouses on the outer cape. While I was in Hyannis, Massachusetts, part of Cape Cod, the closest lighthouse to me was on private property. I decided to try and capture some of the coastlines, so I shot this instead of the lighthouse.

Sometimes I think we get too locked into one visual icon representing an area of the world that we forget there is much more to see and capture.

Sometimes there are photos worth making just in your neighborhood, like this Kroger gas station near me.

Here is a bicycle race taking place about a mile from my house. My point is you don’t have to go far to capture exciting photos.

This was in my yard. While this is being posted on a Thursday, many people will post older photos for “Throw Back Thursday” why not take some time today and explore your city, neighborhood, or backyard?