Whatever you focus your mind on that is what you are going to DISCOVER or see. That is why it’s a better idea to have a plan made before you go out to take photos.
So plan your photos don’t just go out and see what you will capture and then expect to have a great photo, you have to plan the shoot and in some cases go to places that will fulfill your plan, photographers plan their shoots in some cases weeks in advance doing a lot of research on the topic of their photos.
Example;
Your topic is surfing, obviously, you live close to the ocean in my case it all depends on what beach i want to go to, the nearest one is Oceanside Ca which is an hours drive away, next it could be any of the surfing spots along the coast from Oceanside to Los Angeles, but what i do before going is to check the weather and to check the surf report, you can go to a website that tells surfers or anybody how the surf is that day, if the surf is not good then there is no reason to go, you will only see surfers waiting for the wave that will never come, but if it’s reported high surf for that day then you will get great photos, i usually take a 200mm lens and a tripod. But the point is to plan your photos, focus your mind on a specific topic and go get the photos don’t wait for the photos to come to you.