Pay attention.

Composition rules are fine to abide by. Create your photos around the rule of thirds, leading lines, a frame within a frame, and so forth, as those guidelines definitely can help make your photos look better, just like they’ve done for artists for centuries. But if you ask me, the best advice for creating images that truly stand out is to learn to observe. Pay attention to everything around you—not just the subject or the landscape you want to capture. Take a moment to scan the space, soak in the light, and notice the shadows, the unexpected textures, and the quiet details hiding in plain sight.

Once you put this skill into practice, you’ll notice over time that you’ll constantly start creating photos in your mind all of the time. Even when there’s no camera around, you’ll find yourself framing scenes in your head of everything you see, imagining the light, the lines, the colors. It becomes second nature.

And you’ll learn that you can photograph the same place a hundred times and it’ll never be exactly the same. The weather shifts. A street is suddenly closed, so you have to find a new angle. You stumble upon a local festival you didn’t expect, and the next thing you know, there are fireworks lighting up the sky.

Do your homework, but allow for spontaneity.

There’s often a lot of planning involved in this kind of landscape photography: scouting, timing, gear, etc. But there’s also a beautiful element of uncertainty. You’re at the mercy of nature, and I think that’s part of the magic. And here’s a fun fact: It was on a travel photography trip that I met a lovely woman who’d become my favorite adventure partner, and my wife. So yes, photography has given me a lot—more than I ever expected—because I was open to that magic and not just caught up in the technical aspect of “taking pictures.”

To see more of Christian Lejarazu’s work, check out his Instagram.