BTW, what editing program do you use? My favorite one for quick edits is from the Win95 era and throws fits on Windoze 10. I can’t find another “quick-edit” program that doesn’t try to “do it all”.
@immortal_pirate
It was Tamaracks, evergreens and pioneer hardwoods. It will come back if not disturbed — but will take a decade or three to get back to this level of growth.
Everything was rather young there when this pic was taken. It could be no stranger to the cycle of fire.
I think it just may be impossible to take a photo within 100 miles of the Rockies and not see spectacular. The Sea to Sky highway on the west side and the Ice-fields Parkway on the east is non stop jaw dropping.
Looking at this picture has set something off in me. I have edged onto a few places like this, sat down and just felt as good as a human can possible feel. There is no physical sensation as good as being in your moment in environments like this. Even the smell of decaying leaves in the Autumn are gold when mixed with the fresh air it’s encased in and the reflected light that showcases it all.
@griz You might like this one I took a few days ago. It was one of those shots taken like a glance. Looked over, saw it and just reflex snap. In hindsight; I wish I had moved around to find a way to frame it better. The mood it caught was bonded.
I was actually thinking at the time that you could have delivered a masterpiece with this opportunity.
@spitfire3dc
I took no “courses” to learn photography.
I did however, have the examples of other photographers that I tried to copy — to understand their framing, use of angle and light. I would consciously examine they journey they took my eye on in their picture — and took my mind on beyond their picture.
And in time I surpassed what seemed to me like plagiarism and my own style emerged.
When you see something like this, see if you can find/make excuse to set aside 30 minutes to explore it. Whatever comes to mind, try it. Angles. Lighting. Exposure. Zoom in. Zoom out. Create a collection of a dozen or more photos (far easier now than on old film-cameras!) and then force yourself to erase all but the top 2 or 3.
Sit on them for a few days, and try to settle on just the best of the best. Perhaps edit and play with it a bit, and let this become “the one” photo that you keep and show others.
BTW, the subject and framing in that photo is good. I would do some post-production on it and see if I could come up with a better brightness/contrast ratio that would lighten up the foreground without burning out the silver lining on the clouds.
A photo is in a small way, like a child. Spend just a bit of time with it, and it will blossom! (And so too will your memories of the moment where it happened!)
@spitfire3dc
I trained myself by pouring over the photos of others I liked. I would try to understand not just the settings, exposures, patterns, colours and angles they used, but their actual thought-process. I would just gaze and see where the photo “took me”. Both were it physically took my eye within the frame; and the little journey it took my mind on.
A scene that “speaks to you” is a bit like a child. We can take passing notice and it’s nice. But best results come when we find the time to stop and listen. Next time, try spending about 30 minutes with a scene that “speaks”. Explore different angles, different settings. Rarely is my first or even my 5th photo the best one. I find it takes a good 10 minutes to just start getting to what the scene is trying to say to me.
Taking lots of pics and throwing out all but the best is far easier now than in film-camera days!
Your subject matter and framing are good on this photo. If it were me, I would try editing the pic for a better brightness/contrast ratio. You could afford to “burn out” the silver lining on the clouds a bit for the sake of gaining some more detail in the foreground shadows and colour saturation in the leaves.
Or if you don’t like the result, discard it and go with the original! I just love the choices modern digital photography gives you without having to toil in a darkroom.
It would be interesting to see the pictures you have captured and compare with pictures of the same places you will take in the future. It would be interesting to see the changes. You take the most beautiful pictures. You have an eye for balance and true beauty.
@ladybarbara
I’ve been back to a few treasured areas and found them radically altered or devastated. Truthfully, the last thing I’ve wanted to do is remember them in that state.
This one a back-road on the Missouri/Nebraska border. I never thought I’d see it again, but found myself there again a few years later. It had been burned out and both the island and the flood plain were barren.
thank you for sharing! your photos are Always Amazing!
this reminds me of a place in northwestern ontario that i canoed through a while ago (erm like 2 decades ago :D). there had been a fire about 8 years before, and all that stood in the region was jack pine. because their seeds open in extreme heat. so while other species of trees no longer grew in that area, there was a forest of young jack pine saplings. i dont have a pic to share today but i might have one some place in an album in a box. thank you for the reminder.
and for letting me say that it is ok if things change. something will grow again. (at least in the wilds…)
@BelleMadre
Here’s one of Jackpine and the Sudbury “moon-scape” in the shadow of Inco’s Super-stack. The delicate Canadian Shield landscape was seared down to bedrock by the acidic emissions from the mine.
But they treated the area with a buffering agent and the ecosystem is coming back. Save for that one blackened hill in the background. I think they’re leaving that one as a reminder, and as control/comparison for their recovery efforts.
Oh, and that’s my little black Shadow of many years in the foreground!
14 responses to “A Window Back in Time”
I have a suspect under suspicion.
@luftballooneyegouge
If she’s still there she better have asbestos underwear!
BTW, what editing program do you use? My favorite one for quick edits is from the Win95 era and throws fits on Windoze 10. I can’t find another “quick-edit” program that doesn’t try to “do it all”.
@griz
editing? Gee, I have no idea what you’re talking about.
(starts nervously whistling suspiciously)
GIMP
gimp’s fuzzy select tool (it looks like a wand or a flashlight)
scale image(resize) in the image menu
copy and paste
merge down(throws the goddamned layers together into one pic) in the layer menu
Truly sad that beautiful places have to be destroyed by fire.
@immortal_pirate
It was Tamaracks, evergreens and pioneer hardwoods. It will come back if not disturbed — but will take a decade or three to get back to this level of growth.
Everything was rather young there when this pic was taken. It could be no stranger to the cycle of fire.
I think it just may be impossible to take a photo within 100 miles of the Rockies and not see spectacular. The Sea to Sky highway on the west side and the Ice-fields Parkway on the east is non stop jaw dropping.
Looking at this picture has set something off in me. I have edged onto a few places like this, sat down and just felt as good as a human can possible feel. There is no physical sensation as good as being in your moment in environments like this. Even the smell of decaying leaves in the Autumn are gold when mixed with the fresh air it’s encased in and the reflected light that showcases it all.
@spitfire3dc
You’re getting pretty good yourself at capturing a moment in a picture!
If you’re a good photographer in your own backyard . . . chances are good you’ll be an excellent one exploring backyards farther afield!
@griz You might like this one I took a few days ago. It was one of those shots taken like a glance. Looked over, saw it and just reflex snap. In hindsight; I wish I had moved around to find a way to frame it better. The mood it caught was bonded.
I was actually thinking at the time that you could have delivered a masterpiece with this opportunity.
@spitfire3dc
I took no “courses” to learn photography.
I did however, have the examples of other photographers that I tried to copy — to understand their framing, use of angle and light. I would consciously examine they journey they took my eye on in their picture — and took my mind on beyond their picture.
And in time I surpassed what seemed to me like plagiarism and my own style emerged.
When you see something like this, see if you can find/make excuse to set aside 30 minutes to explore it. Whatever comes to mind, try it. Angles. Lighting. Exposure. Zoom in. Zoom out. Create a collection of a dozen or more photos (far easier now than on old film-cameras!) and then force yourself to erase all but the top 2 or 3.
Sit on them for a few days, and try to settle on just the best of the best. Perhaps edit and play with it a bit, and let this become “the one” photo that you keep and show others.
BTW, the subject and framing in that photo is good. I would do some post-production on it and see if I could come up with a better brightness/contrast ratio that would lighten up the foreground without burning out the silver lining on the clouds.
A photo is in a small way, like a child. Spend just a bit of time with it, and it will blossom! (And so too will your memories of the moment where it happened!)
@spitfire3dc
I trained myself by pouring over the photos of others I liked. I would try to understand not just the settings, exposures, patterns, colours and angles they used, but their actual thought-process. I would just gaze and see where the photo “took me”. Both were it physically took my eye within the frame; and the little journey it took my mind on.
A scene that “speaks to you” is a bit like a child. We can take passing notice and it’s nice. But best results come when we find the time to stop and listen. Next time, try spending about 30 minutes with a scene that “speaks”. Explore different angles, different settings. Rarely is my first or even my 5th photo the best one. I find it takes a good 10 minutes to just start getting to what the scene is trying to say to me.
Taking lots of pics and throwing out all but the best is far easier now than in film-camera days!
Your subject matter and framing are good on this photo. If it were me, I would try editing the pic for a better brightness/contrast ratio. You could afford to “burn out” the silver lining on the clouds a bit for the sake of gaining some more detail in the foreground shadows and colour saturation in the leaves.
Or if you don’t like the result, discard it and go with the original! I just love the choices modern digital photography gives you without having to toil in a darkroom.
It would be interesting to see the pictures you have captured and compare with pictures of the same places you will take in the future. It would be interesting to see the changes. You take the most beautiful pictures. You have an eye for balance and true beauty.
@ladybarbara
I’ve been back to a few treasured areas and found them radically altered or devastated. Truthfully, the last thing I’ve wanted to do is remember them in that state.
This one a back-road on the Missouri/Nebraska border. I never thought I’d see it again, but found myself there again a few years later. It had been burned out and both the island and the flood plain were barren.
thank you for sharing! your photos are Always Amazing!
this reminds me of a place in northwestern ontario that i canoed through a while ago (erm like 2 decades ago :D). there had been a fire about 8 years before, and all that stood in the region was jack pine. because their seeds open in extreme heat. so while other species of trees no longer grew in that area, there was a forest of young jack pine saplings. i dont have a pic to share today but i might have one some place in an album in a box. thank you for the reminder.
and for letting me say that it is ok if things change. something will grow again. (at least in the wilds…)
@BelleMadre
Here’s one of Jackpine and the Sudbury “moon-scape” in the shadow of Inco’s Super-stack. The delicate Canadian Shield landscape was seared down to bedrock by the acidic emissions from the mine.
But they treated the area with a buffering agent and the ecosystem is coming back. Save for that one blackened hill in the background. I think they’re leaving that one as a reminder, and as control/comparison for their recovery efforts.
Oh, and that’s my little black Shadow of many years in the foreground!