I recently revisited a set of photos in order to create a CD of those images for a friend. Big mistake. I spent an hour or so re-processing photos and worse, started thinking, "hmm, what other older photos could I re-work?"
The above photo was taken on an outing to the Afsluitdijk north of Amsterdam. I (and you) need to remember to more often look at those everyday things with a photographic eye. Road signs always seem to make interesting photos if you think it through a bit creatively.
I, at first, started looking at my 'weather' photos because I considered entering a photo into a competition where the theme was "b&w weather." Though in the end I didn't enter, I like how the above (and some others) worked out, especially the figure in the lower corner. I love Lightroom and how quickly it allows you to experiment.
This one I'm not sure why I love it so much. Maybe it's the cool, non WB corrected colors. Maybe it's the simplicity. Maybe it's Anders making his "cool" sign (his eyes are the "oo" of "cool"). The yellowish light was due to tungsten lights in very low light conditions, and the blue glow (which I love how it hits his face) comes from a tv that was showing cheesey Russian variety shows. Why, you ask? Because we were sitting around drinking Vodka celebrating Red Army Day. Why you ask? heh..
Paris, April 2005. Another reminder of how to creatively compose photos. Granted, this isn't the most creative angle as it's probably been done a million times, but at least it's not the "full tower" shot we've all seen a billion times, right? And the cross-processing adds to the "hey, I'm not your average tourist shot" feel.. I hope. It's also what I imagine a fish sees just before an octopus (granted, in this case, a four legged metallic one) envelopes it..
Taken in Scheveningen harbor, 2005, I really liked the simplicity of this shot and the textures of the metal. This is one of the many loading bays on the harbor. It was a bit dull and flat, so I played with the "clarity" and "vibrance" settings on Lightroom though I left the saturation alone. Then I upped the black clipping. Made all the difference.
Near the Black Hills, South Dakota while visiting my sister sometime in late 2003. Yes, I could have made the whole thing more symmetrical by standing on the median between the two roads, but that's what everyone would have done. I kind of liked how the two further roads seem to come from the one I'm on. In retrospect, I should have gotten lower to the ground, if not actually on the ground. If you want a sense for just how much land the US has, this is a very good state to visit...lots and lots of vastness and isolation there. Slight cross-processing used as well as vibrance adjustment and boosting contrast (to make the details jump a bit more).
I'm typically waaay against cheesey shots. Hate 'em in fact. But this felt and looked so genuine and natural that I had to take this shot. Added some vignetting .. not sure why, but I like it. :)
Now that I finished 2004-2005, soon to come a revisit of 2006 and 2007!