The "Perfect" Photograph

Last week when I was on the Cape, I got this amazing photo of Cape Cod (Highland) Light in Truro. My dad was able to get me out of bed at 6:30, and we were driving out of the motel by 6:45. We got to the light around 7, and there were these amazing clouds. I snapped away. I got one great shot...the lighthouse in the lower right, and the clouds in the rest of the photo, with a brightness and boldness that can only be had at the beginning of a new day.

This got me thinking...all photographers are on the quest for the "perfect" image. I always get about 5 great shots on a lighthouse trip...the ones that become my favorites. Yet as much as I love that photo of Cape Cod Light (I'm going to get an 8x10 made of it and frame it in my room), there is something...something missing...I'm not sure what it is, and may never know.

I think we are all on an eternal quest for the perfect photo. But does such photo really exist? Is it possible to get a perfect photo? Or can we only get close to it, like I did with Cape Cod?

Something to mull over...those of you in the northern reaches of the US are getting several bouts of the Northern Lights around now. Use this oppurtunity to continue your quest.