In My Back Pocket - Photography
'It is not what you look at that matters. It's what you see.' – Henry David Thoreau
Above the Pave
The week has presented opportunity to work with Adobe Photoshop CS6 with High Dynamic Range (HDR) images – side-lit clouds in sunset’s golden hour present colour, light and shadow in interesting ways; I’m re-editing two sets of bracketed images for High Dynamic Range work. ‘The Pave’ is a term used by La Crete Mennonites to refer to a seven mile stretch of narrow-shouldered highway that becomes the last portion of road in my October drive from High Level to La Crete. In this image clouds billow in a rhythm, catching colour above ‘the pave’ moments before the sun descends below the horizon. The work in this photo was that of tearing myself away from the impending meeting to capture this colourful image … I would be late. The second image was part of a return drive from Grande Prairie from this past fall, undulating clouds reflected within slough water. In both, I’ve been working with Adobe Bridge and then with the automated function in Adobe Photoshop CS6 to merge bracketed photos into a single HDR image.
I have also been exploring the messages of authors, Courtney Martin (her book, ‘Do It Anyway’) and Parker J. Palmer (his book, ‘The Courage To Teach’), this week. Courtney’s book looks at core elements of resilience and advocacy … sort of ‘The Freedom Writers’ meets the real world in extraordinary and exemplary ways. Parker’s book considers teaching from many facets, one being the inner teacher within the student that the teacher needs to connect with in order to bring about learning. The book is crammed with teaching truth. I am about half-way through and will be moving through it a second time.
Listening to – Dan Mangan & Jesse Zubot’s ‘Cumulonimbus (Newport, ’63),’ Nick Laird-Clowes’ ‘Golborne Road’ and Arvo Part’s ‘Speigel im Spiegel.’
Quote to Inspire – ‘Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph.’ – Matt Hardy
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
Great balance in the Lakes, with the reflection bringing land and sky together. I’m looking at a Pentax camera at the moment, a K-50, I should get the money together for it before we head away to Cyprus later this year. Has a sealed body and is quite lightweight for an DSLR. I want to get away from using my compact and get back to SLR pictures again, I’ve been loading negatives onto hard drive recently, some of my older pictures. Always a slow process, every picture holds some sort of memory.
Jim
Hey there, Jim:
It’s good to read about the Pentax K-50 and it being sealed so that there is less chance of dust meeting the sensor. The idea of colourful camera body also could attract use.
Also, good to read that you’re scanning images to hard drive. Many of our family’s family photos have made their way to hard drive. I’ve also used the process to bring back Life into pictures that may have faded over time – working with Adobe Lightroom and NiK software. I agree that memories stir within the process. And, as you work with the photos from this vantage point you will likely see other things that were factual elements of the photo that memory sometimes does not record. I made a calendar from my father’s slides during his university days in the U.K. … something to aid his failing memory. The exercise created talking points for Dad and for family members who also received the calendars.
The lake photo in the post is a first attempt at HDR with CS6; I may have another go at it. I do like the composition, also.
Take care. 😉
That second one is just wonderful!
Hey there, Laurie:
I’m liking the first image in your Snow Shadows set of images – the webbing of tree branches and the balance of light and dark on the snow.
Good schtuff! 😉
Thank you!