Photo of the Week #214

I have said it many times over the years that you should revisit certain images as time goes by. You gain experience and know-how and so does the software we use for edits. Often you can breathe new life into an image and it is certain;y worth looking at. This particular image has been used in another form a couple of years ago but it didn’t do it for me in some ways. This re-work of the image is my final edit, I’m calling it done now, officially. “Feeling Blue”

Inspiration Without Travel

“If you can’t make a good photograph where you are, stepping onto an airplane isn’t going to make you a better photographer” - Richard Martin

I was recently speaking to a friend who is also a photographer. We were talking of our recent activities in the photographic world. I had been relatively busy with my music pretty much all the way through the pandemic but my friend shared that with not being able to travel, he hadn’t had the chance to shoot much. This got me to thinking about how many people have issues with inspiration without the luxury of travel. As far as my landscape photography is concerned, I also struggle with inspiration.

I got to thinking and realized that I’m the same way, I shoot little when I’m at home. Why? Largely because we don’t have mountains, deserts or oceans where I live. When I go out somewhere near home, I just don’t get the same inspiration. We recently went to Alberta and spent a few days in the Rockies and I was beyond inspired. I got to shoot in a few locations I have only seen photos before. I was in awe of the beauty and wanted to be out making photos all the time.

The logical solutions for me since I can’t afford to spend all my time traveling is to learn how to see things differently. I need to change my expectations. It’s fine to take advantage of those epic landscapes when I find myself in those places, but I also need to learn to see what I have available to me here in eastern Ontario and make the best of what I do have. I think we tend to take things for granted when we see it all the time but the truth is, we also have plenty of beauty in eastern Ontario and I need to take advantage of it.

Photo of the Week #211

This is an older image from 2015, that seems like a lifetime ago now. I’m missing Nova Scotia a little right now. I have to admit, I”m a little sad that we sold our house there, it just didn’t fit into the plan any longer and an interested buyer came along at the right time. We would drive by this place countless times going back and forth to the house, it was on the highway in. This particular morning the light was magnificent in my opinion and I was able to capture this. I consider this a portfolio piece.

Photo of the Week # 210

This image of “The Storm” was posted here before but this one is different. I have made several different versions because I’ve never got one that I really like before. I’m known for re-editing images as tech advances but in this case, I just never got it right before. I like realistic looking images and this one is very easy to edit too aggressively. I sat down the other day and actually decided that the sky needed to be pulled back considerabky to bring it to the point of looking “real”. I see that a lot, I think many people tend to over process skies, trying to bring out more mood. Darkness is often exaggerated, as is sunset colours. I second guess myself a lot as I don’t want to fall into that category but I know I do from time to time. This will hopefully be the final version of “The Storm”, it looks more accurate to the way I saw it now and I am liking it. Hope you do too.