I learnt a valuable lesson in planning a few weeks ago. Most photographers will tell you that before you go out to shoot you should scout your location and work it all out prior to the night, I thought back to my childhood where I used to live and how there was a little look out that had great views at night over Melbourne, and some of the south east suburbs so I thought fantastic, I will get some great night shots.

My issue was that my scouting was something like 10 years earlier, and on the night I decided to get out and make it to the top of the lookout, with my camera bag, 150mm macro lense, my tripod and my Tamron 150-600mm lense. Thankfully I had a beanie, gloves and jacket as it was very cold, however much to my disappointment upon reaching the top of the lookout I discovered the tree's had grown much higher than i previously remembered, and the entire view was obstructed, a great way to waste a night!

The moral of my story, scout your locations prior to a shoot, and make sure the scouting was done recently!