Don't fight the weather. Photographer Jad Davenport shares the best-kept secret of bad weather: the blue hour. In the fifteen minutes after sunset, when all the color has left the sky, grab your tripod, set your shutter speed between 8 and 15 seconds and start shooting. Even the most overcast skies transform into a velvety, sapphire curtain.

Why didn't I think of that? Look at existing images of the places on your must-photograph list and think about different ways you can photograph them to make them uniquely your own.

Shoot. A lot. Gone are the days of dropping as much on film and processing as you did on your vacation. With the advent of digital cameras, it costs virtually nothing to snap away. Bring plenty of memory cards with you when you travel, especially to off-the-beaten-path locales, as they may not be readily available for purchase.

Patience is a virtue. Show interest in your subjects and spend some time with them before raising your camera. The philosophy of photographer R. Ian Lloyd is that good photography is about sharing a moment with others, so try to make photographs with your subjects and not just take them.

Only your mother loves it. Look at the image for the sake of the image, not the memory attached to it. For every image we publish in ISLANDS, we review anywhere between 10-50 shots, so don't get discouraged if only a small handful remain.