It was early. A little before 6am when we went out to the shore. I parked the Jeep along the sandy shoulder that runs along Carlsbad Blvd., just south of the Cape Rey hotel in Carlsbad. Pablo and I set up our tripods and, in the pre-dawn light, were making the most of what we could shoot, which turned out to be light trails from the passing cars on the road.

Then, all of a sudden, a car pulls up and stops just south of the Jeep, directly in the frame of the composition we were shooting. At first, we figured the car would pull back onto the road and move on. Then, as it sat there, we mumbled and grumbled to each other about how that car was messing up our shot.

But within moments, as we saw the headlights of the passing cars fall on the chrome rear bumper, and the taillights from those cars emerge past the car down the highway, we both exploded with something like glee: this was a great foreground subject to the light trails we were trying to capture, and a terrific addition to an otherwise mediocre or ordinary light trails composition.

After we had been shooting light trails for a few minutes, the driver emerged and asked if he had ruined our shots. Not at all, we explained. Pablo got his contact info, we learned he was a local pilot, and we said we would share some photos later. I asked if I could get some close up detail shots of the car.