A star-shaped bolt holds up a retaining wall in Washington, DC.

I often come across items that I want to photograph when I’m walking my dog; and when I see something interesting, I stop and look at it for a few minutes to visualize ways that it could be photographed. I don’t necessarily photograph the item right away or even at all, but I usually keep examining it each time I walk my dog. Sometimes I do this at different times of the day to see the item under different conditions and light. Weeks may pass, but eventually I may venture out with my camera, and without my dog, to photograph the item.

This star is part of a large bolt that holds up a retaining wall next to a row house in my neighborhood. Apparently, it didn’t do a very good job of holding up the wall and Earth because the wall was demolished and replaced a few months after I took this photograph. Unfortunately, the new wall doesn’t have anything interesting on it to look at, but I’ll keep walking by with my dog anyway.