Tim Wilson on Rock 'n Rattle, Tumwater Canyon, 1987.

I also love random photos that happen just because you are in the right place at the right time, like this shot of Tim Wilson leading Rock 'n Rattle at Rattlesnake Rock. Sean Courage and I were out cragging in Leavenworth one day, not to take photos at all but just to climb as many good routes as we could, especially routes we hadn't done before. After climbing a bunch of stuff at Careno Crag, we hiked up to Rattlesnake Rock to give some of the sport climbs a go. Tim Wilson just happened to show up and started up Rock 'n Rattle right after we had rappelled down from Drillmeister, so we both grabbed our cameras and started elbowing each other for the best position for a photo. I snapped off a half dozen shots including this one, but didn't think much of it until later, when my editor at Falcon was telling me the kind of shot he wanted for the cover of my rock climbing guide, "a picture with a climber on a steep, lichen-colored wall, high above the canyon, with some trees and a stream in the background." As if such a perfect photo existed! But wait, I thought, I think I might have just the shot. Sometimes the best photos aren't planned, they just happen.