Tip: Patience, patience patience. This shot began as nothing more than an idea while covering a bike race, and required waiting close to an hour for the riders to pass beneath. It was an hour spent second-guessing the decision to wait in a parking lot while the race action was going on elsewhere, but to leave would mean missing the shot. In the end it was worth the risk.

After the first riders came through in a tight bunch, a second pack came along with more even spacing – perfect for adding to the symmetrical composition of the bright yellow tree against the blue sky.

A pack of bicycle riders in the Tour of the Tucson Mountains pass beneath a Palo Verde tree, in its full spring bloom of yellow flowers, on Avra Valley road, north of Tucson Arizona:

© 2007 Chris Richards, Phoenix DPA Instructor