Originally Posted by Maffer 
Hm? Being there is about 10% because you really have to know where and when. You do your homework beforehand and then go when you know the moment is right. With pure luck it might be 80%. 40% is about equipment (sharp & contrasty lens, good tripod, leveling tools, filters etc.) and 50% talent. You gotta know your gear you currently have. Sure you can just frame someting with wide angle lens, but for example the angle of the lens related to the ground can make or break the shot.
Hmm. I think obtaining a 'sharp and contrasty lens and a good tripod' is simplicity itself, nowadays. Any major DSLR system will provide the first, and any camera shop can provide the latter. If you go with money, you'll leave with good equipment - or good enough.
Doing your homework is part of being there. Time is a part of "there". That's all training, something that can be taught.
The point is that you can buy any mid-range DSLR, the best "normal zoom" the manufacturer provides, a decent Manfrotto Tripod - and you can get 'em all for the price of a trip to, say, Africa. You can read books or websites *for free*, for days, that will tell you everything you wanna know about taking beautiful pictures of landscapes. You can find guides that will tell you the time of day that's best, what time of year is best, what kind of clouds to look for, you name it.
But when the rubber hits the road, none of that other stuff matters if you aren't *there*. And the flip side of that equation - send someone there with a good quality P&S, a cheap Velbon tripod, and the heart of a poet, and you'll get beautiful images anyway. Any vista you look on that provides you with that sense of awe, the touch of the numinous, can produce breathtaking images, but only if you look on them, right? Send a rank amateur with a Holga there, and you stay home, and they'll bring back better images of wherever there is than you got.
