I try to have an alternative site or another option in mind when I leave home.

Researching a site by googling it and looking at other peoples images also gives some ideas about how to shoot the site and the conditions, location, safety issues etc. and I try to do the same amount of research on a nearby place so i have an alternative if the conditions dont suit my first planned site.

You might have checked out things for seascapes for example and found that the low tide matches up with sunrise and think, ok, tomorrow Im going to do seascape sunrise images and use the rocks and sand and low tide water to catch reflections of light and compose an interesting foreground and.... off you go, 4am, and its raining, teaming down...for an hour either side of sunrise and youve travelled 100KS to get there and.. nada. no result.

Happened to me a few times so now I look for alternative things to do when the weather conditions dont suit what I want and research an alternative site for shooting if the seascape bombs out. For example, a planned trip to the Sunshine Coast to do seascape sunrises failed so I went to Buderim Falls instead after dawn and the cloudy weather conditions suited the rainforest alternative.
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That means carting more lenses and filters and so on with you but the trip isnt wasted. The other thing Ive learnt is that if the conditions are absolute garbage for the day you are there you can use the time and place to scout for future photo shoots. I did that at the Glasshouse Mountains in QLD one day when it was pouring rain and awfully dark sky an blahhh conditions. Located some unique places to compose images of Mt Tibrogargan and took a couple of 'test' shots and kept them on my computer and when the conditions were right went back there and shot the scene again, much better.

on SAFETY I say hunt in pairs,.....many times Ive been alone in a rainforest or bushland somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and come a cropper and put myself at risk with falls etc. but there are also weirdos out there who can freak you out if you are alone.

One time at the end of Nudgee Road I go the feeling i should not be there when 2 men came out of a van at 4am asking me *** I was doing there with a camera; needless to say Boondall Wetlands didnt get a gurnsey that day and David NEVER went there again alone. Another time I was walking down the track to Purlingbrook Waterhole alone at 5am and a bloke comes by the other way with a rifle slung over his shoulder, says Gday as he wanders past with a smile, and left me A. Wondering.. what the.... and B. Extremely paranoid for a good hour.

So yeah, dont go alone unless you absolutely have to and have an alternative shooting site option in mind and if your going bush TELL SOMEONE WHERE YOU ARE GOING. ..seems so basic but how often do we forget/neglect to do that one ?

Cheers

David.