I find that the hardest thing for most people to photograph is people. And that's a shame, because it's a great way to make some nice photos, and you often end up with a good story as well.

On a recent trip to Florida one of the other teachers I work with, Bob Pearson, and I had some time one evening to take a walk on the beach. The usual stuff was going on - people playing football, surfing, swimming, building sandcastles. Nothing that really caught our eye for photos. Then we came upon a man setting up to do some fishing.

Being a fisherman too, Bob walked up and started asking questions about the gear, bait, fish, etc. After chatting with him for a few minutes, we asked if he'd mind if we shot some photos. "Sure, go ahead," he told us. So for the next thirty minutes we watched him fish, learned about the bait he uses (sand fleas), how he sets up his three poles and saw him bring a fish in.

Anytime I'm in a situation like this I try to come away with a story in pictures. I look for some detail shots (hands, reel, fish, bait), a couple of nice overalls that show where and what is going on, and a good face shot. Approaching each shoot as a story forces you to look beyond the obvious, and often you find a nicer photo than you first saw. And that's one of the hardest things to do as a photographer - to let go of the first thing that caught your eye and start looking at everything else.

The best part was that this turned out to be the most interesting thing we did all day. The weather was great and we learned a bit about surf fishing from Janos, who lives in Montreal and spends four months each winter in Fort Lauderdale. Almost everyone has a good story to tell. You just need to get up the nerve to walk up and talk to them.